Cornwall Ontario – The River Kings home-ice roll continued on Saturday night as they beat the Jonquière Marquis 6-4 in front of 1,052 at the Civic Complex.
Pierre-Luc Faubert led the attack with a goal and two assists for Cornwall, which won its fourth straight at the Ed Lumley Arena. The River Kings (8-7-3) haven’t suffered a regulation loss on home ice since Nov. 10 vs. Thetford-Mines.
Cornwall opened the scoring at 2:21 of the first on a powerplay. Bobby Mazerolle scored his second in as many nights, converting on tic-tac-toe set up by Faubert and Julien Corriveau.
Sasha Pokulok showed his patience as he waited for what seemed like minutes in the high slot, finally ripping a high wrist shot past Marquis goaltender Fred Piché at 12:40 of the second.
Less than two minutes later, with the River Kings on a 5-on-3 powerplay, Alex Bourret’s perfect slap pass from the point was tipped in by Faubert.
Pat Kavanagh’s shorthanded effort gave the Kings a 4-0 lead at 5:51 of the third. Kavanagh went in alone and beat Piché five-hole. But the Marquis responded 82 seconds later when Dominic Leveillé’s one-timer beat Loic Lacasse.
Jonathan Jasper’s blast from the point with 9:45 to play in the third fooled Piché, giving the Kings a four-goal lead once again.
The Marquis powerplay then took over. Simon Laliberté tapped in a cross-crease pass to beat Lacasse on a 5-on-3 powerplay with 5:50 to play in the game. Fourty-six seconds later, Leveillé scored his second of the game.
With 4:40 to play, Kings defenceman Dominic D’Amour came to the aid of Faubert, dropping the mitts with Jean-Michel Bolduc of the Marquis. On an ensuing power play, Dominic Chiasson iced it for Cornwall on a great individual effort with 4:04 remaining.
Laliberté rounded out the scoring for Jonquière at 17:52 of the third on yet another power play.
The River Kings were without top scorer Nicolas Corbeil this weekend, while the Marquis came to Cornwall without LNAH points leader Francis Charette.
Lacasse left the game early in the second period and was replaced by backup – and newly signed – Paul Bourbeau Jr. Lacasse came back into the game less than four minutes later. Bourbeau made two stops.
Jonquière outshot Cornwall 35-29. The announced stars were Faubert (first), Corriveau (second) and Leveillé (third).
POINT ON THE ROAD: On Friday night in Rivière-du-Loup, the River Kings earned a point on the road in a 2-1 shootout loss. Bourbeau made 22 saves in regulation and overtime for Cornwall, which outshot Rivière-du-Loup 36-23. Mazerollle scored for the River Kings. In the shootout, Ryan Jardine and Bourret couldn’t beat Louis Menard while Rivière-du-Loup scored on both attempts.
