Lions fall 8-5 to Mariners

The Lions and the Maine Mariners faced off for the eighth time in what will ultimately be 12 games this season on Wednesday night at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, with the Lions holding a 5-to-2 edge in victories going into the contest. Starting in goal for Trois-Rivières was Joe Vrbetic while the Mariners countered with Kyle Keyser.

Only 10 seconds had elapsed in the first period when the Lions’ Miguël Tourigny received a delay of game penalty and the Mariners capitalized with Cameron Askew scoring at the 49 second mark. Cedric Montminy then got Trois-Rivières on the scoreboard and a few minutes later notched his second of the game when the teams were playing four-on-four to give the Lions a 2-1 lead. Near the end of the period, it was Jared Power who extended the Lions’ lead when he scored his first goal in a Trois-Rivières uniform.

While the Lions were held off the scoreboard in the second period, the Mariners became a goal-scoring machine: Wyllum Deveaux scored the Mariners’ second goal at 2:44. Then it was Jeff Solow scoring his first professional goal at 6:04 to tie the game at 3-3. Only 23 seconds later, Maine’s Curtis Hall gave the Mariners a 4-3 lead. That goal ended Vrbetic’s night as his confidence level appears to have diminished of late, and he was replaced by Zachary Bouthillier.

There were goals aplenty in the third period, starting with Xavier Filion tying the score at 4-4 with his first goal wearing Trois-Rivières’ colours. Just a few seconds later Maine’s Alex Kile scored his 21st of the season to give the Mariners a 5-4 lead. The Lions’ Markuss Komuls tied the score at 5-5 at 6:17, but the Mariners then took over by scoring two goals, the first coming from Askew and the second from Brooklyn Kalmikov. Maine’s Deveaux then put the finishing touches on the game with his empty net goal to give the Mariners an 8-5 victory.