Season-high seven goals lift Admirals to wild win

Tanner Schachle collected two goals and an assist, Blake Murray added a goal and two assists and the Norfolk Admirals overcame three blown leads to outlast the Trois-Rivières Lions 7-5 before 1,979 fans Wednesday night at Scope.

The Admirals (8-31-1-2) opened a four-game homestand by reaching a season high in goals and snapping a two-game skid. The Lions (15-25-2-0), an ECHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens who are 13 points above Norfolk in the ECHL North standings, dropped their third straight.

Norfolk took leads of 2-0, 4-3 and 5-4, but Trois-Rivières came back to tie it each time and took the lead on two of those occasions.

Murray and Schachle scored first-period goals — Schachle’s on a power play — to give the Admirals a 2-0 lead, but the Lions answered with goals by Brendan Soucie (shorthanded), Colin Bilek (power play) and Alex Breton to go in front 3-2 in the second period.

Eric Cooley tied it at 3, and Schachle’s second goal put Norfolk ahead 4-3 with 4:41 left in the second.

Brett Stapley helped Trois-Rivières tie it at 4 just over two minutes into the third period, but Darren McCormick gave the Admirals a 5-4 lead 2:02 later with a shorthanded goal.

The Lions tied it for the final time at 5 on Francis Thibeault’s goal with 9:54 left.

Stepan Timofeyev’s powerplay goal with 2:04 left proved to be the game-winner for Norfolk, making it 6-5. Mathieu Roy added an empty-netter with 18 seconds left.

Billy Constantinou and Ryan Foss contributed two assists apiece for the Admirals.

The two teams will play again at 7:05 p.m. today and 6:05 p.m. Saturday at Scope.