Lions drop third straight to Mariners

TROIS-RIVIERES, PQ – Saturday night in Trois-Rivieres, the Trois-Rivieres Lions faced off with the Maine Mariners for the third consecutive contest. All three were tight, one-goal games with two going to overtime. Unfortunately for the Lions, luck was not with them as Maine completed its series sweep with a 5-4 overtime win on Saturday.

After a roughly one-hour delay for the game to begin, the Lions started out aggressively. However, it was Mariners defenceman Tyler Hinam who scored the game’s first goal when he beat Lions netminder Philippe Desrosiers. The Lions trailed Maine 1-0 at the end of the first period.

In the second period, Patrick Shea scored the Mariners second goal and teammate Conner Bleackley made the score 3-0 less than halfway through the period. Shortly thereafter the Lions’ Cameron Hillis found the back of the net by beating Mariners goalkeeper Jeremy Brodeur to foil his shutout bid. At the end of the second period Maine led 3-1.

The Mariners started the third period by adding to their lead when Hinam scored his second of the night. The Lions quickly replied when Hillis scored his second of the game with the assist going to Olivier Galipeau. Late in the third the Lions’ Anthony Nellis and Shawn St-Amant each scored to tie the game at 4-4.

Just like he did in the second game of the series, the Mariners’ Zack Malatesta scored once again in overtime to give Maine the victory. The Mariners leave Trois-Rivières having beaten the Lions in all three games played.

The Lions now hit the road for back-to-back games against the Reading Royals on February 11th and 12th.

Game recap courtesy of Yasmeen Setlakwe / Trois-Rivieres Lions

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