Tough week for the Lions comes to a close

Saturday afternoon at Colisée Vidéotron saw the third and final match-up between the Lions and the Norfolk Admirals in their three-game series, with the Admirals having won the first two games by scores of 4-3 and 4-1. Norfolk had to call for an emergency goalkeeper since netminder Yaniv Perets was ruled out. So it was Thomas Milic starting in goal for the Admirals and Joe Vrbetic for the Lions.

It was a scoreless first period, with the Admirals registering 13 shots on goal while the Lions had 10 of their own. The first penalties of the period were assessed at 19:52 with the Admirals’ Mark Liwiski and the Lions’ Nicolas Larivière both receiving 10-minute misconducts and Liwiski also getting two minutes for holding and Larivière two minutes for roughing. Trois Rivières’ Vrbetic made several key saves during the period to keep the Lions in the game.

The Lions’ Miguël Tourigny came close to opening the scoring at the start of the second period when he was given a penalty shot after being hauled down on a breakaway. However, he missed the target on his opportunity. When the first goal of the game ultimately was scored, it came off the stick of Norfolk’s Justin Robidas, who had notched two goals in Friday’s game. The Lions continued to play well, but luck wasn’t on their side having hit the post on numerous occasions.

The Admirals continued to put pressure on the Lions’ Vrbetic in the third period. Norfolk’s Liwiski scored at the 2:27 mark to give the Admirals a 2-0 lead, with an assist going to Josh McDougall. Keegan Iverson then increased Norfolk’s lead to 3-0 close to six minutes later, and finally former Lion Thomas Caron scored into an empty net to make it 4-0. The Lions’ John Parker-Jones was able to spoil Milic’s shutout bid when he scored Trois-Rivières’ only goal at 17:37 to make it a 4-1 final. The Lions ended up being swept at home by the Admirals, unable to register a single point out of a possible six.