Cornwall River Kings playoff hopes stay alive

Cornwall Ontario – It was the perfect weekend for the Cornwall River Kings, who turned some heads in the LNAH by evening their best-of-seven series at 2-2 with the defending champion Jonquière Marquis.

Cornwall skated to a 4-2 victory on Saturday night at the Civic Complex in front of 1,964 fans.

Pierre-Luc Faubert’s two third-period goals were the difference. Loic Lacasse was spectacular in goal with a 31-save performance.

The teams exchanged powerplay goals in the first. Dominic Léveillé, with his fifth of the series, opened the scoring for the Marquis at 7:55. Then, with the Kings on a 5-on-3 man advantage, Doug Andress tied the game at 15:55 with a blast from the point that beat Pier-Olivier Pelletier high glove side.

With 3:17 left in the second, J.P. Caron gave the River Kings a 2-1 lead with his second goal in as many nights. After Cornwall defenceman Ryan Sullivan bounced one off the end boards, Caron pounced on the loose puck and banked it off Pelletier and in.

The Marquis tied it at 7:46 of the third on a controversial goal by Patrick Bernier. The puck bounced off a few bodies in the crease and eventually past Lacasse. The referee appeared to start waving the goal off, before deciding the goal would stand.

Moments later, a huge hit by Francis Lessard lead to the winning goal. Faubert took advantage of a turnover created by the hit to tie the game 19 seconds Jonquière’s marker. With 28 seconds left on the clock, the hard-working Faubert iced it with an unassisted empty netter.

Jonquière outshot Cornwall 33-28. The announced stars were Lacasse (first), Sasha Pokulok (second) who had two assists and Faubert (third).

Game 5 is in Jonquière on Friday, April 4. Game 6 will take place in Cornwall on Monday, April 7.

GAME 3: At Jonquière on Friday night, the trio of Julien Corriveau, Caron and Dominic Chiasson combined for six points as the River Kings blanked the Marquis 2-0. Rookies Corriveau and Caron had a goal and assist each, while the veteran Chiasson chipped in with two helpers. Lacasse stopped all 21 shots he faced for the rare LNAH shutout.