SLOW START HAUNTS MARINERS IN LOSS TO LIONS

TROIS-RIVIERES, QC – March 29, 2022 – After a slow start, a pair of late 2nd period goals proved to be the Mariners downfall in a 5-3 loss to the Trois-Rivieres Lions on Tuesday night at the Colisee Videotron in Quebec.

The Lions opened the scoring at 7:04 of the first period when former NHLer Alexandre Fortin skated in on a breakaway and slipped a puck between the pads of Jeremy Brodeur. Fortin played 24 games with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2018-19. Trois-Rivieres doubled its lead at 14:27 right off a faceoff, as Conner Welsh stepped into a wrister from the top of the left circle that beat Brodeur’s stick side. The Mariners could muster just four shots in the opening period.

The Mariners were all over the Lions in the middle frame, but fell down 3-0 early when Fortin set up Julien Nantel for a tap-in goal on the doorstep at 3:37. At that point, the switch flipped for the Mariners, who scored twice within a span of 1:18. First, Keltie Jeri-Leon found Pat Shea in a low slot for a wrister that made it through Arturs Silovs, who had shut out the Mariners in his last encounter with Maine. Shea’s goal came at 6:26. At 7:44, Connor Doherty threw a shot from the left point that Tyler Hinam redirected over the shoulder of Silovs to bring the deficit back to one. The Mariners came close to tying the game and went to a power play late in the period, but Cedric Montminy scored on a shorthanded breakaway at 16:50 to steal momentum back for the Lions. Anthony Nellis added another at 19:43 to give the Lions a three goal lead heading to the third.

Shea scored his second of the game just 1:07 into the third to give the Mariners a shot at a comeback, but that was all the offense they could muster the rest of the way.

With the loss, the Mariners fell behind the Lions in the race for the fourth and final playoff spot in the North Division. The Mariners have 10 games remaining, the Lions have 11.