Lions at Growlers: A tight contest to close out the four-game series

The Lions took on the Newfoundland Growlers in Game Four of their four-game series this afternoon.

Growlers forward Ben Finkelstein opened the scoring in the first period went he put one past Lions netminder Philippe Desrosiers. The Lions’ Kevin Auger evened things up later in the period scoring his first goal of the season. However, Newfoundland’s Riley McCourt put the Growlers back in front less than two minutes before the end of the period. 

The second period saw goals from Finkelstein again and Pavel Gogolev to increase the Growlers’ lead to 4-1. The Lions were not ready to lay down and play dead just yet as forward Cédric Desruisseaux narrowed Newfoundland’s lead to 4-2 with an assist going to Anthony Nellis. But just as the Lions were getting themselves back into the game, Growlers captain Zach O’Brien extended Newfoundland’s lead with his 22nd goal of the season. After 40 minutes of play the Growlers had a 5-2 lead. 

In the third period, Desruisseaux scored his second of the game to get the Lions to within two goals. With the wind in their sails, Lions forward Nicolas Larivière scored and Trois-Rivières was now only one goal down with the score 5-4. The Lions pulled out all the stops to even the score, but ultimately couldn’t find the back of the net for that crucial game-tying goal. 

Coach Bélanger’s team returns from Newfoundland with a 1-3-0 record against the Growlers after this week’s four-game series.

The Lions’ next game is at Colisée Vidéotron on Wednesday with puck drop at 7:00 p.m. Click on the link below to buy your tickets.