Trying to come back from behind late, the Trois-Rivières Lions lost 7-3 to the Newfoundland Growlers at Mary Brown's Center on Saturday.

• Read also: The Lions find the way to victory

• Read also: A former NHLer with the Lions

The local favorites needed just 34 seconds to get on the scoreboard in the first period. Nolan Walker took advantage of his opponents' defensive largesse to sneak in and redirect the puck past goaltender Joe Vrbetic.

After that net, the situation did not improve, as the Newfoundland team added three more unanswered goals. Zach O'Brien and Zach Solow (twice) blacked out the scoresheet. The indiscipline also hurt, the opposing special teams having scored twice on this sequence.

The goalkeeper of the Trois-Rivières team had a difficult exit, being beaten four times in 10 attempts. Vrbetic gave way to Quebecer Francis Marotte in the middle of the game.

The change of goalkeeper whipped Marc-André Bergeron's men, but efforts to come back from behind were not enough.

Jonathan Joannette collected a return close to the net and threaded the needle for the first time in the game. It was only a few minutes later that defender Ryan Francis added. The latter, alone to the left of the goalkeeper, accepted the turnaround of Cédric Montminy to beat Dryden McKay.

The captain added a net to his record at the end of the match. Pavel Gogolev, Todd Skirving and Keenan Suthers added to the score for the home side.

The Lions and the Growlers will try, on Sunday, to win the honors of this small series of three games. On Friday, Trois-Rivières beat its rivals 5-3.