LONDON, Ont. – Chris Perugini made 40 saves and the league's best penalty kill lived up to it's billing on Saturday, as the York Lions battled to a 3-2 victory over Western at Thompson Arena.
 
York's game-tying and game-winning goals looked a bit similar—both coming on second chances in tight just over five minutes apart in the second period. Peter Delmas didn't have much of a chance on either goal and his coach didn't fault him for the breakdown.
 
"We didn't play very good defence there for a couple of minutes in the second," said Mustangs head coach Clarke Singer. "Small gap in our structure and it gave them a couple of really good opportunities around the net, which they buried. Delmas made the initial save on both of them, unfortunately we just didn't do a great job supporting him.
 
 "That got them in the lead and we just couldn't fight back and get another one."
 
The loss snaps Western's five-game win streak and gives the Lions some space at the top of the OUA West Division standings. The two teams entered the game one point apart at the top of the West but York leaves London with a three-point cushion. Both teams have four games left on the schedule but Western will need some help to take over first.
 
"In this league when everybody's so good we just weren't good enough tonight," said Singer. "[York] has great structure, they play great defensively and … they got great goaltending tonight and that was probably the big difference."
 
Perugini can take a lot of credit for getting York two points. The veteran goaltender faced double-digit shots in each period, including a game-high 17 in a Western-dominated first. He helped York's league-leading penalty kill, now firing at 87.9%, shut out the Mustangs on all four of their power plays—one of which came with Delmas pulled in the third.
 
"[Perugini] made some big stops for them," said Mustangs forward Trevor Warnaar. "He came up big for them... [Delmas] still had a really good game but sometimes a goalie steals a game for you and I guess that happened tonight."
 
Warnaar had the second of Western's two goals in the first period, chipping the puck up to himself off an offensive-zone turnover and burying the puck over Perugini's shoulder. Warnaar's marker came four minutes after Cody Brown's opener, which saw him jump on a rebound and lift a backhander into the net—all while sliding on his knees.
 
The Lions cut Western's lead in half near the end of the frame with a power play goal from Derek Sheppard. That goal seemed to help York turn their game around and they would add to their special teams' success with a big kill with two men down near the end of the period.
 
"It wasn't good enough," said Singer of Western's power play on Saturday. "They got a power play goal, we didn't do a very good job. I thought it was better early in the game. It's tough to have those opportunities late and I really didn't think we got set. I think we had one shot in four minutes on the power play [in the third] and that's not good enough."
 
Still, it's hard to fault Western's power play when the Lions' penalty kill has been so solid this season. You could see why on Saturday, as York managed to box the Mustangs out whenever they moved into the slot and made a number of key blocks in tight. Most of Western's shots ended up coming from the perimeter and hit Perugini in the chest.
 
NOTES: Noah Schwartz had his point streak snapped but Shaun Furlong extended his to five games with an assist…  Western had just two coaches on the bench on Saturday, as David Kontzie and Jamie Baker were both absent. Former Mustang and current Graduate Assistant Adam McKee joined Singer on the bench for most of the game…