TROIS-RIVIÈRES, QC – The Greensboro Gargoyles opened the franchise’s first road trip on Friday night, falling 6-3 to the defending Kelly Cup Champion Trois-Rivières Lions at Colisée Vidéotron. Despite the final score, Greensboro outshot the Lions 34-29 and showed strong pace and effort through all three periods.
Trois-Rivières struck first in the opening frame, but the Gargoyles had the answer as Deni Goure scored the franchise’s first power play goal from Tyler Weiss and Wade Murphy. Anthony Rinaldi put Greensboro back on the board, again on the power play, midway through the second period, finishing a feed from Ethan Leyh and Noah Delmas to tie the game 2-2.
In the third, captain Logan Nelson buried his third goal of the season at 15:52, assisted by Patrick Newell, before Delmas capped a two-point night with a late tally from the blue line.
Ruslan Khazheyev stopped 23 shots in goal for Greensboro, while the Gargoyles went 0-for-2 on the power play and killed off three of five Trois-Rivières opportunities.
“They’re the defending champions for a reason,” said Head Coach Scott Burt. “They play hard, they play well, they play together… We missed four breakaways, their last empty net goal was off one of our players’ heads, and to be honest I thought it really could have gone either way. We played with good pace, I was happy with the way we played. Our guys just need to keep pushing and soon enough it will start falling on our side.”
Rinaldi, who had family and friends in the stands, reflected on the milestone. “Definitely a special moment,” he said. “It’s actually the first time that my family and friends have got to see me play professionally. I know it’s a little dry, but it means a lot for me that they were able to come.”
Defenseman Trevor Zins made his Gargoyles debut after joining the team at the Montreal airport from Idaho. “It’s been a lot of travel, but I feel good after this game,” Zins said. “I’m going to just keep going, keep being myself, keep building chemistry and other than that we’re on the right track headed in the right direction here.”
The Gargoyles continue their three-game series in Trois-Rivières on Saturday, November 1 at 3:00 p.m. and again on Sunday, November 2 at 3:00 p.m. before returning home to First Horizon Coliseum next weekend.
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