Trois-Rivières, QC – The Worcester Railers HC (27-24-2-4 60pts) defeated the Trois-Rivières Lions (37-12-4-2, 80pts), on Saturday afternoon by a final score of 4-3 in the shootout in front of a crowd of 1,844 at the Colisée Videotron. The Railers are back on the ice next at the Colisée Videotron on Sunday, March 9th at 3:00 p.m. EST.
The Railers came out in the first period on Saturday afternoon with a better pace than they had across Friday night’s game. While the frame ended scoreless, they killed two penalties in the period, held possession of the puck for most of the frame, and outshot the Lions 9-6 through the first twenty. Both goaltenders were off to a good start, as Michael Bullion made six saves for Worcester while Hunter Jones turned aside nine for the Lions.
Worcester grabbed the lead for the first time all weekend when Cole Donhauser (7th) tucked his own rebound past Jones for the game’s first goal. Kaplan and Klee each grabbed assists as they helped work the puck into the zone and towards the net. The Lions responded with three straight goals. Anthony Beauregard (22nd) was credited with the game-tying goal, which bounced from the point off of a Railer stick and snuck past Bullion. Five minutes later, the Lions rushed into the zone thanks to Chris Jandric’s speed and found the stick of Nicolas Guay (10th) on the rush to send it home and make it 2-1 Lions. Beauregard (23rd) tacked on one more for the Lions as the clock expired in the period. After review, it was determined that it was a good goal. The Lions took a 3-1 lead into the third after outshooting Worcester 18-13 in the second.
The two Matt’s for Worcester, DeMelis (7th) and Kopperud (15th) each notched goals in the third. DeMelis scored 65 seconds into the period after ripping home a shot from the slot, while Matthew Kopperud pulled a quick trigger on a shot off the faceoff just four seconds into the power play. The game drew to a tie at the end of regulation, 3-3 after sixty minutes.
The Lions headed on the power play early in overtime off of an Anthony Callin high stick. The Railers killed it off thanks to six saves from Bullion in the extra period, then headed onto their own power play midway through overtime. Neither team succeeded in scoring in overtime as the game went to a shootout.
Connor Welsh continued his excellence in the shootout. Already the only defenseman in the ECHL with two shootout goals, he scored the only tally of the shootout in the second half of the second round. Michael Bullion made the game-winning-save on Anthony Beauregard in the first half of the third round to deliver the Railers two points on the afternoon.
