Norfolk, January 18, 2025 – (Montreal Canadiens affiliate) Lions de Trois-Rivières rediscovered their winning ways with a 3-0 victory over the (Winnipeg Jets affiliate) Norfolk Admirals on Saturday night at Norfolk Scope Arena.
Although Friday’s game was rife with intensity and emotion, Saturday’s match-up started off in a somewhat tranquil manner. The Lions, however, did have to deal with an Admiral power play early in the first period, and were able to kill it off successfully. Trois-Rivières’ Justin Ducharme then scored his third goal of the season at the 9:05 mark to give the Lions a 1-0 lead. That score remained unchanged for the rest of the period, but the intensity level ratcheted up a notch in the last minute of play when Norfolk’s Darick Louis-Jean and Lions’ captain Morgan Adams-Moisan engaged in some fisticuffs.
That fight set the stage for the second period, when seemingly after every whistle both teams’ players engaged in chirping and tussling. Those post-whistle set-tos were the tale of the period, with the score remaining 1-0 in favour of the Lions.
Mercifully, the third period had better pace than did the second. The Lions were able to kill off the remnants of a second period 5-minute cross-checking penalty and then got goals from Isaac Dufort and Xavier Cormier. Meanwhile at the opposite end of the rink, Trois-Rivières’ Luke Cavallin stopped all 23 shots he faced to record his first shutout of the season. Final score: Lions-3 Admirals-0.
The Lions and Admirals conclude their three-games-in-three days series on Sunday afternoon in Norfolk. The two teams will meet again next Friday at Colisée Vidéotron in Trois-Rivières.