The Trois-Rivières Lions ended a three-game losing streak by beating the Adirondack Thunder 6-5 in overtime at the Colisee Videotron on Saturday afternoon.
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The crowd favorites got off to a strong start. Anthony Beauregard scored after just 30 seconds of play, Nick Hutchison equalized in the closing moments of the opening period but Brendan Soucie restored the Lions’ lead before the end of the first period.
The Trois-Rivières led by two goals after 40 minutes, with Cédric Lacroix, Bradley Johnson and Ryan Francis providing the Lions in the middle. The thunder, however, had not spoken its last word. The visitors leveled the game again thanks to goals from Ryan Orgel and Xavier Parent in the third half.
It was Brett Stapley who ended up playing the heroes in overtime. The Montreal Canadiens’ seventh-round pick in the 2018 draft took its time before outsmarting the opposing goaltender with a wrist shot into the top of the net.
In front of the Quebec club’s cage, Francis Marotte parried 23 of his rival’s 28 shots. It was his tenth game with the Trois-Rivières team, he who also wore the colors of Thunder in 2022-2023. At the other end of the ice, Jake Theut was thwarted six times in 45 shots.
The Lions and their opponents of the day will return to Mauricie for the second game in a series of two confrontations on Sunday afternoon.