The Montreal Canadiens ECHL affiliate forced a sixth game in the North Division Semifinals.
The Trois-Rivieres Lions avoided elimination on Saturday with a 4-2 win against the Norfolk Admirals (Winnipeg) in game 5 of the opening round of the ECHL playoffs.
The visitors opened the scoring while the Admirals were killing a double minor penalty. Defenceman Chris Jandric went coast-to-coast and split three opponents before shooting top corner for the power play goal.
Trois-Rivieres doubled their lead early in the second period when Jakov Novak beat Yaniv Perets with a shot from the top of the faceoff circle. Nolan Yaremko extended his point streak to five games with an assist on the sequence.
The Admirals got their fans back into the contest later in the period when Danny Katic was left uncovered and went top corner with a backhander for the goal.
A scary incident occurred a few minutes later when Jonathan Yantsis crosschecked Darick Louis-Jean. The former Lions defenceman was taken off the ice on a stretcher and gave a thumbs up to his attendance and everyone in attendance. The Lions forward received a match penalty for the incident.
After failing to capitalize on the extended power play, Norfolk tied the game when Austen Keating had room in the slot to beat Zachary Emond.
While the public address announcer was announcing the goal to the crowd, Novak answered back with a blocker side goal to put Lions ahead through 40 minutes.
The Canadiens ECHL affiliate increased their lead in the third period off a faceoff play as Nicolas Guay banked in the rebound from Jandric's shot.
Norfolk pulled their goalie with more than three minutes remaining and failed to get any pucks to cross the goal line.
The sixth game of the North Division Semifinals is on Sunday at 7:05pm eastern time at Norfolk Scope in Virginia.
Be sure to bookmark THN.com/Montreal for year-round coverage of the Montreal Canadiens, Laval Rocket, and Habs prospects playing in leagues around the world.
