NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – The Trois-Rivières Lions (26-26-3-1) used three goals in the third period to beat out the South Carolina Stingrays (21-36-6-0) by a final score of 5-2 on Saturday night at the North Charleston Coliseum.
For the second straight night, the Stingrays broke the ice as Alex Brink fired his eighth goal of the year nearly eight minutes into the opening stanza. Cam Strong poked the puck away from the Lions defense and prompted Brink to rush coast-to-coast, sniping the shot over Arturs Silovs for the 1-0 lead.
Trois-Rivières retaliated three minutes later as Max Kaufman scored his first professional goal to even the score. Kaufman set up in front of the net and tapped in a pass from Anthony Nellis.
Alexandre Fortin added one to give Trois-Rivières their first lead of the weekend on a 5-on-3 power play three and a half minutes after Kaufman’s game-tying mark. Fortin set up on the right circle and sent a shot to the far side, beating Ryan Bednard for a 2-1 advantage.
Late in the second period, Justin Florek evened the score at two goals apiece with a nifty goal between his legs, tying Andrew Cherniwchan with a team-leading 18 goals this season. Brink fought the puck away in the corner and sauced a pass to Florek who flipped it between his legs to the tie game.
The Lions finished strong with three unanswered goals in the final period of regulation, beginning with Fortin’s second of the contest just over three minutes into the frame. Bednard stopped Fortin’s initial shot, but the forward fought through Stingrays defender and slid the rebound through the netminder’s legs.
Julien Nantel doubled the lead a minute and five seconds later on his fifth tally of the season. Nantel crashed the net and tapped in a cross-ice feed from Olivier Archambault before Brenden Locke iced the game with under two minutes left in regulation.
The rookie out of Cornell scored his first professional goal, sniping a shot past Bednnard off a two-on-one rush for the Lions, expanding the lead to a 5-2 final.
The Stingrays finish off a three-game weekend against the Trois-Rivières Lions tomorrow, March 27th, at 3:05 p.m. at the North Charleston Coliseum.
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