NORFOLK — Carson Golder notched two goals and two assists to power the Norfolk Admirals to 4-3 series-clinching victory over the Trois-Rivières Lions in a chippy Game 6 of the ECHL Kelly Cup playoffs Sunday at Scope.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s tough play or lethal goal scorers, the mountain is going to get higher and tougher to climb every time,”
Admirals coach Jeff Carr said. “We knew the first playoff series in 10 years wasn’t going to be easy, no matter what. Even up 3-1, that could’ve went to Game 7 really quick.”
The Admirals clinched the series 4-2 and await the winner between the Adirondack Thunder and Maine Mariners. The Thunder are up 3-2, with Game 6 of their series scheduled for Tuesday.
Jakov Novak, who had the go-ahead goal in Saturday night’s win for the Lions, put his team ahead 1-0 with less than nine minutes remaining in the first period. Novak, who was a thorn in Norfolk’s side all series long with four goals, an assist and 23 penalty minutes going into Game 6, gathered a loose puck just outside the blue line and combined with Nicolas Guay on a two-versus-one situation to slot the puck past Admirals goaltender Yaniv Perets.
Golder, who rejoined the team in time for Saturday’s matchup, then collected both goals in the final three-plus minutes of the period to give the Admirals the lead the rest of the way. Simon Kubicek sprung Golder with a pass just inside their defensive zone, and Golder turned on the jets to skate past two defenders and backhanded the puck in to tie the score at 1.
A Trois-Rivières slashing penalty with two minutes remaining in the first period gave the Admirals a power play right before the intermission. Forty seconds later, Danny Katic pounced on a loose puck near the boards on the left side of the ice, spun around to avoid a defender and found an open Golder, who snapped the puck in for a 2-1 advantage.
“It just kind of worked perfectly,” Golder said. “Yesterday, I had quite a few shots but couldn’t bury one. Today, they just all happened to work out. Momentum is a huge thing in hockey, and I think that (the goals) got us really going.”
Tempers started to flare in the second period as a slashing call on Trois-Rivières’ Mason Kohn sparked a melee, resulting in a quartet of additional penalties, for Kohn and teammate John Parker-Jones, along with the Admirals’ Mark Liwiski and Stepan Timofeyev.
Midway through the period, Timofeyev knocked a goal in to push the lead to 3-1. Golder came from around the back of the net to set up the chance. The whistle to signal the second intermission was met with another skirmish, this time between Liwiski and Trois-Rivières’ Nolan Yarmenko. Novak also got involved, which gave the Admirals another power play following the break. Thirty seconds following the restart whistle, a high-sticking penalty gave the Admirals a five-on-three opportunity that they couldn’t convert.
“Last game got pretty chippy, and we thought they were going to leave it on the table again,” Golder said. “It was pretty physical, but we were able to push through.”
Midway through the third, Novak cut the deficit to 3-2, poking in a puck that squirted into the crease as Perets wasn’t able to
clear it. Shortly after that, Timofeyev and Justin Ducharme got into a scuffle after the latter’s questionable hit on Denis Smirnov.
Golder was at the heart of restoring the two-goal lead at 4-2 after some sharp stickwork to free himself to the right side of the goal, when he set a pass across the face of the goal to a streaking Carson Musser, who one-timed it home.
Guay scored a power-play goal to bring Trois-Rivières to 4-3 with 1:30 remaining and, with their netminder pulled, the Lions frantically searched for an equalizer that ultimately didn’t come.
“The season series was a little lopsided, so their game plan probably wasn’t to play us straight up,” Carr said of the physicality of the Lions, who lost seven of eight regular-season games to the Admirals. “Competitors find ways to try and win and ways to be competitive.”
