Series Preview | March 22-24 @ Maine

The Newfoundland Growlers embark on their final road trip of the regular season starting on Friday night at the Cross Insurance Arena against the Maine Mariners.

Newfoundland took three of a possible six points during their last homestand way back on March 9-11 as they went toe to toe with the Idaho Steelheads, wrapping up on Monday, March 11 in a 5-4 overtime loss.   

After a ten-day break allowed the rest of the division to play many of their games in hand, the Growlers remain in third place in the North Division with a 26-24-8-2 record and 62 points.

Maine, having spent most of the season on the outside looking in, have managed to grab the fourth and final playoff spot in the North, three points back of Newfoundland on 59 points with a record of 26-26-7-0.

Although the Mariners are where they want to be for the time being, now is not the time for relaxing with Trois-Rivières, Worcester and Reading all within two points of them for that coveted fourth place position.

In their last meetings back on January 27 & 28, each side managed to grab win as the Growlers took a 5-1 victory followed by a 4-2 Mariners win the following day. Overall, Newfoundland are 4-2-0-0 against Maine so far in 2023-24.

A crucial triple-header for two sides desperate to hold onto their postseason position, expect a hotly contested weekend of hockey in Portland.

Puck drops is set for 8:45pm on Friday night, 7:30 pm on Saturday evening and 4:30pm on Sunday. Growlers fans can watch all three games live on FloSports (subscription required), listen to the call on Mixlr, or follow along on Twitter (@NLGrowlers) for game updates and highlights.

WHO TO WATCH:

NFL – Mathieu Gosselin (F): One of the newest Growlers signings out of the NCAA this past week, the former Clarkson University captain was also the Golden Knights leading scorer in 2023-24 with 28 points (11G, 17A) in 31 games.

MNE – Alex Kile (F): The Mariners leading scorer by over 20 points, Kile (32G, 36A) has been one of the key reasons for Maine’s late push into the playoff picture.