The Lions and Railers faced off for a second straight night at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts on Saturday. The Railers were out to even the two-game series after losing to Trois-Rivières 5-3 on Friday. Starting in goal for the Lions on Saturday was Zachary Émond, while Michael Bullion was between the pipes for the Railers.
Worcester’s Kolby Johnson was penalized for high-sticking at the 3:18 mark of the first period. It didn’t take long for the Lions to benefit with having the man advantage when Xavier Cormier gobbled up a loose puck in front of the Railer net to give Trois-Rivières a 1-0 lead. Later in the period the Lions’ Isaac Dufort was assessed an interference minor and Worcester’s Jordan Kaplan capitalized with a power play marker of his own to even the score at 1-1.
The Railers dominated the shots on goal category in the second period, outshooting the Lions 15-2. Worcester’s Matthew Kopperud took advantage of the Railers’ onslaught to beat Émond at 14:26 to give the home side a 2-1 lead. Just under four minutes later the Lions’ Tommy Cormier sped past the Worcester defence corps, sent in alone off a feed from Charles-Antoine Paiement. Cormier made no mistake on his breakaway and beat Bullion to bring the teams back to level at 2-2 after 40 minutes.
Both teams played cautiously in the third period, unwilling to take many risks. The result was a scoreless period, sending the teams to overtime but nothing was settled in that extra stanza either. The only player to score in the shootout was the Lions’ Alex Beaucage and his tally gave the Lions the 3-2 shootout win.
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