Cornwall Ontario – J.P. Caron sparked the Cornwall River Kings with 3 goals and 2 assists en route to a 7-5 victory over Rivière-du-Loup on Saturday night at the Civic Complex.

It was the River Kings third straight win in front of a boisterous crowd of 1,971.

With the victory, Cornwall (11-12-4) jumped into a tie for 6th place with Rivière-du-Loup.

Bryce Swan opened the scoring for the 3L 1:55 into the game when he beat Paul Bourbeau Jr. with a blast from the high slot.

But the River Kings responded only 39 seconds later with a great shorthanded effort by Bobby Mazerolle, who squeezed one past Louis Ménard for his eighth goal of the season.

Moments after heavyweights Francis Lessard and Ryan Murphy went toe-to-toe in a lengthy tilt, Anthony Mezzagno gave the 3L a 2-1 lead with a wraparound goal at 12:18 of the first. Marc-André Tourigny then converted on a nice feed from Swan at 14:56 of the opening frame.

Early in the second period, Caron took over for the River Kings. Twenty-seven seconds into the frame, Caron flew down the right wing and beat Menard with a wrist shot. Moments later, Caron scored his second of the contest on a similar play. That goal chased Ménard from the 3L crease as Pierre-Oliver Lemieux took over in goal.

Rivière-du-Loup went ahead once again when Sylvain Deschatelets took advantage of a turnover for a powerplay goal at 9:32 of the second.

Doug Andress tied the game up for Cornwall, taking advantage of a perfect bounce off the end boards and blasting home a slap shot just under the cross bar at 6:05 of the third.

Nicolas Corbeil gave the Kings their first lead of the game with 7:55 to play in the third period. Corbeil, on his off wing, beat a 3L defenceman wide and went top shelf for the highlight reel goal.

Nicolas Sigouin scored from the point on the powerplay with 4:37 to go to give the River Kings a two-goal lead. That would be the game winner after Deschatelets scored his second of the contest at 17:28 of the third.

Caron iced it with an empty net goal, his third of the contest, with 26 seconds remaining.

The announced stars were Caron (first), Corbeil (second) and Deschatelets.

PAIR OF KINGS HONOURED: Sasha Pokulok and Loic Lacasse were named two of the LNAH’s three stars for their performances last weekend. Pokulok, the first star of the week, had 2 goals and 3 assists in two games, while Lacasse picked up two victories in goal for Cornwall. Laval goaltender Stéphane César was named the second star, thanks to a 58-save victory over Trois-Rivières.

TRADE DEADLINE: It could be a very busy couple of days in the LNAH. The trade deadline is set for Tuesday, January 21st at 8 p.m.