The Trois-Rivières Lions desperately needed to win Wednesday night’s game against Worcester Railers to remain in the ECHL playoff race and it was in the closing minutes that they clinched a 5-0 overtime win at the DCU Center .
The task will not be easy for the Montreal Canadiens school club in its last eight games, but mathematically it remains in the running. In the general standings, Marc-André Bergeron’s men climbed to 53 points, while the Railers, holders of the fourth and last rank that allows access to the jumping ball in the north section, climbed to 68 points.
Ryan Francis played the hero by defeating Henrik Tikkanen with a shot that only partially stopped the goalkeeper. The former Calgary Flames contender now has 18 points in his last 12 games.
The Lions even thought they could win this game in regular time, but Bobby Butler leveled the game with five seconds left. Four minutes earlier, Nicolas Guay had given the visitors the lead.
Shortly before, Anthony Beauregard had won his battle in front of the net and scored his 23rd goal of the season. This is a new record in young Lions history, the mark set by Anthony Nellis last year.
Guay and Matthew Barron were the scorers for Trois-Rivières in the first half.
It’s the Railers’ first setback this season in 24 games after leading before the third third. They met goalkeeper Étienne Montpetit, who performed very well with 32 saves.
The Lions will be away against the Reading Royals for a three-game series in as many days starting Friday.
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