TORONTO — Colin MacDonald's first goal of his OUA career turned out to be a timely one for the Mustangs, as the sophomore defenceman beat Toronto goaltender Brett Willows with just over five minutes left in the third period to help Western over Toronto 4-3 at Varsity Arena on Saturday night.
 
For the second night in a row it came down to the wire for the Mustangs. After squeezing past York in overtime on Friday, the purple and white were able to score three third period goals to pull out their second win in as many nights. Western now sits second in the OUA West with 33 points on the season while the Varsity Blues stay behind the Lions in seventh place with 17.
 
Those three third period goals came off the sticks of MacDonald, Steve Reese, and Cody Brown. Brown has been phenomenal for the Mustangs since drawing into the lineup for the fist time this season on January 9, grabbing two points in his successful debut and scoring the overtime winner against York. He now has four points (3 goals, 1 assist) in four games.
 
Greg Dodds was back in net on Saturday to earn the win for the Mustangs, making 20 saves on 23 shots after getting Friday night off. He made a game-high nine saves in the second period, keeping Western in the game as the Varsity Blues began to pile the pressure on. Toronto would be rewarded with two goals, however, allowing them to take a 2-1 lead after Julian Cimadamore scored his ninth of the season in the opening frame.
 
But the third period would see Western turn the heat on, as they took a game high twelve shots on Willows and came away with a trio of goals. By the time the four minute mark had hit in the final frame, the two teams had already scored three goals, as Dean Klomp responded to the goals from Reese and Brown to tie the game back up at three goals apiece. MacDonald's winner would come just over 10 minutes later.
 
Both teams were unable to score on the power play Saturday night, as they went a combined 0-for-9 with the man advantage. Western had the most opportunities with five, but were shut out on the latter night of a back-to-back for the second week in a row. Last week the Mustangs scored three power play goals against RMC before coming up blank against Carleton, and this week they followed up their two goals on the power play against York with a zero on Saturday.
 
Next up for the Mustangs is a game against Brock on January 21, followed by another matchup with York on January 23. Both of those games will be played on the road, and can be watched live on OUA.tv.
 
Notes
 
Sophomore Michael Nishi has been getting the majority of starts for Toronto this season while seniors Willows and Garrett Sheehan were injured for a large portion of the year. But with both Willows and Sheehan returning to the lineup recently, they've split all of the starts since January 10. This was Willows' second start in a row… With another assist on Saturday, Reese is now ranked ninth in the OUA in points and fifth in assists with 19… Noah Schwartz is now on a six game point streak that extends back to December 2. During that time he's compiled seven points…