At the Jean Bouin ice rink, the Eagles of Nice hosted the Dragons of Rouen as part of the 38th day of the Magnus League. After a defeat (5-2) last Tuesday in Angers, the red and blacks were eager to make amends to avoid the Play-Out at the end of the season.
The task seemed more than complicated for the Nice team, ranked 9th against the championship leader, who have been in great form in recent weeks.
In the stands, the “Testa Pelada” were present as usual, to support and encourage their team. Unfortunately, their efforts were not enough to guide the Eagles of Nice to victory.
Tough Start for the Eagles of Nice
The start of the match was difficult for the Nice team. After about ten minutes, Rouen opened the score through Sacha Guimond. The yellow and white waves crashed one after another against the Nice goal. Less than 2 minutes before the end of the first period, in a power play, Rolands Vigners doubled the score before Quentin Tomasino added his name to the list of scorers in the last seconds (3-0).
Nice Logically Defeated
Despite their efforts, the Nice team tried to react, reducing the gap through Norbert Abramov during the second period (3-1). However, the third period proved fatal for the Eagles. Only 4 minutes after the restart, Francis Perron took charge of converting a penalty awarded to his team, calmly slotting the puck through the goalkeeper’s legs.
The Nice team managed to reduce the score further. After a nice exchange of passes between Jesper Larinmaa and Marc-Andre Levesque, Andrei Rychagov completed the action beautifully and scored a nice goal to bring it to (4-2). The Rouen coach seemed very unhappy with the refereeing at that point and made it known.
At the very end of the match, Nice went all-in but was punished a minute before the end of the game. Anthony Rech scored the 5th goal in the empty net of Nice’s goalkeeper, Conrad Molder.
See you in a little over ten days, on February 13th, at 8 p.m., at home, for the clash against Cergy-Pontoise. A crucial match for the Eagles, with six matches remaining in the championship.
