MARINERS FALL AT HOME TO TROIS-RIVIERES

PORTLAND, ME – February 19, 2022 – The Mariners fell into a 4-0 hole on home ice against the Trois-Rivieres Lions on Saturday night at the Cross Insurance Arena, as the Lions cruised to a 6-2 victory. Julien Nantel and Olivier Archambault each registered three points to lead the Trois-Rivieres offense.

The Mariners first period struggles continued, as they fell behind 1-0 at 6:28 of the opening frame. Lions forward Julien Nantel raced into the zone and beat Jeremy Brodeur’s stick side from the right faceoff circle to give Trois-Rivieres the  early advantage. Shots on goal totaled 11-10 for the Lions after 20 minutes.

The Lions opened up a big lead with three goals in the second period, with their leading scorer Olivier Archambault involved on all of them. Archambault found Lions captain Cedric Montminy on the top of the crease at 2:30 of the period with a power play goal to double the lead to 2-0. At 10:21 of the period, Archambault and Anthony Nellis made a tic-tac-toe passing play finished by Nantel for his second goal of the night to make it a three goal game. Archambault got one for himself at 18:33, creating a 2-on-1 off a Mariners turnover, set up by Nellis to make it 4-0.

The Mariners finally broke through Lions goaltender Carmine-Anthony Pagliarulo just over a minute into the third period when Brendan Soucie tipped a Brendan Robbins pass top shelf to get Maine on the board. The Lions, however, answered 21 seconds later when Nicolas Lariviere came down with a skyward puck and beat Brodeur to restore the five goal spread. Olivier Galipeau and Cam Askew traded power play goals to bring the final score to 6-2.

The Mariners have lost six games in a row, tying their season-long streak. 4,493 fans attended the game at the Cross Insurance Arena for “Throwback Night,” the 2nd largest crowd of the season.