LONDON, Ont. — Kyle De Coste celebrated halloween by dressing up as the Varsity Blues' worst nightmare on Friday night, finishing with a goal, three assists, and a pair of penalties to help lead the Mustangs to a 5-2 win over Toronto at Thompson Arena.
 
The sophomore forward was an integral part of the Mustangs offence last year with 16 goals and 27 points but just couldn't seem to catch a break early this season, finding himself without a goal until last Saturday's win over Queen's. But neither De Coste nor Mustangs head coach Clarke Singer felt that his stats were indicative of the quality of his early-season play.
 
"For me, I thought the first few games of the season I played positionally really well and physically and all those different things— it's just one of those things where the puck wouldn't go into the back of the net for me or, quite frankly, for other guys when I'd give it to them," De Coste said of his slow start on the scoresheet. "It was just kind of one of those slumps where you have to keep working hard and try to get through it."
 
"Kyle's had a great first half here, I mean maybe not on the scoresheet but he's been playing his best hockey as a Mustang," Singer said. "He's been physical, he's been working hard, he's improving defensively and he has been getting chances, they just haven't been going in the back of the net so it's nice to see him finishing and some of his line mates finishing."
 
De Coste and the Mustangs are now on a two game win streak and have failed to lose once through their first four home games of the season. Greg Dodds was once again a big reason Western's success, earning his second consecutive victory by turning aside 36 of 38 shots.
 
As is becoming a regular theme this season, Dodds and the rest of the Mustangs' penalty kill forced their opponent to create all of their offence at even strength on Friday. Western has now turned in four straight home games without giving up a power play goal, but after the game coach Singer admitted you have to chalk some of that perfection up to lady luck.
 
"The special teams so far this year have been very, very good, and you know we'll take it while it's there because there's a certain amount of karma [or] luck that goes along with special teams," Singer said. "You hit a post, you hit a stick, the puck deflects in and so far we've been fortunate and the guys have been working hard I'll give them that but we've gotta keep it up."
 
Lucky or not, Western got the job done, and with the man advantage they proved to be just as strong. The Mustangs finished the night with three power play goals on three chances to raise their league-leading success rate to an impressive 36.7% on the year.
 
"[Special teams were] something at the beginning of the year we really looked at," said De Coste. "Power play wasn't where we wanted it to be and the penalty kill was doing fairly well but it's one of those things we want to improve every time anyways. So our special teams the last few games here have been a lot better and obviously we've been productive because of it."
 
The line of Noah Schwartz, Julian Cimadamore, and Luke Karaim set the tone on the first shift of the game and a great period from Matt Marantz helped the Mustangs carry that momentum all the way through the period. Not only did the third-year forward open the scoring, he also helped Western kill off their first penalty of the period by stealing the puck and holding off three Toronto players in their defensive zone. Thanks in large part to his effort, Toronto wouldn't manage a shot on that power play.
 
The Varsity Blues would, however, get an even-strength goal with just under four minutes left in the period, with Andrew Doyle using a defender as a screen to beat Dodds off the far post for his first goal of the year. But Western would respond just 51 second later with a goal from De Coste, who tapped the puck in off a rebound following a tough-angle shot from Steve Reese.
 
De Coste would return the favour to his captain exactly two minutes later, as the sophomore forward found Reese with a crisp cross-ice pass on the power play and he ripped it between two Toronto defenders and under Michael Nishi's arm to make the score 3-1 heading into the intermission. Western's three first-period goals on Nishi were more than the second-year goaltender had let in all season, as he had allowed just two goals in his first two appearances.
 
After combining with Reese to pot the two first-period goals, De Coste was back at it again in the second, wiring a slap-shot from the point that was tipped in by Cimadamore. The goal— which would stand as the only offence from either team in the period— produced some music for the ears of Mustangs fans, as it rang off the cross bar before dropping neatly into the net.
 
But in the end, Western's three goal first-period would prove to be all the offence they would need on the night, as the Varsity Blues buzzed around the Mustangs goal in the third but were unable to score more than one goal. Western would add a tally in the frame too, as Karaim gave the Mustangs extra insurance with his third of the season just over a minute into the period.
 
Despite the fact that his team was able to hold off a Varsity Blues comeback, Singer wasn't at all pleased with his team's consistency on the night.
 
"I think any time you can win by three goals on our side you have to be happy with the result, maybe not necessarily happy with the entire process along the way," Singer said. "I thought we were pretty inconsistent overall tonight— power play did a great job, penalty kill was good— but I thought five-on-five we had some ebs and some flows, some peaks and some valleys for sure and don't like to finish that way in the third, kind of leaving Greg there hung out to dry." 
 
Dodds was solid in net once against for Western, especially in a final frame that saw him stop 16 of the 17 shots that came his way. His counterpart, Michael Nishi, entered the game as the only goaltender in the OUA with a higher save percentage than Dodds— albeit in only two appearances—but he wouldn't leave with that honour. Western's sophomore goaltender heads into tomorrow's matchup with Ryerson with the OUA's highest save percentage at .940.
 
That matchup, which features a meeting between one of the leagues most potent offences and the league's top goaltender, ought to make for some exciting hockey.
 
"Ryerson is— in my mind— the most dangerous offensive team in the league, on either side," Singer said of tomorrow's opponent. "So it's going to be a real challenge but hey, anytime you get to go to Maple Leaf Gardens you've got to enjoy the day and we're hoping to enjoy the day and play a good hockey game."
 
Notes
 
Western entered the game with a record of 2-0-0 in games where their opponents outshot them, while Toronto came in with a 0-2-0 record when they outshot their opponents. In a weird twist of fate, nobody outshot anybody, as both teams registered 38 shots… Toronto's power play woes on the road continued Friday, as they came in with only one power play goal on 14 opportunities and failed to score on all four chances… The game was the second one in as many nights for the Varsity Blues, who destroyed Guelph 7-2 on the road on Thursday before losing to Western… Both Schwartz (2-6-8) and Reese (5-6-11) extended their point streaks to seven games on the night and Reese was in on three of the goals…