LONDON, Ont. -  A hat trick from Kaley Tienhaara led the nationally eighth-ranked Nipissing Lakers to a 3-1 win over the Western Mustangs on Sunday afternoon at Thompson Arena.

The Lakers add to their lead for second place in the OUA standings following the victory, while the Mustangs find themselves in seventh place with three teams (Brock, Laurentian, UOIT) trailing them by two points or less. Those three teams also have at least one game in hard over the purple and white.

"For us it's frustrating," said Mustangs assistant coach Blair Webster about the team's recent results. "For two games this weekend I think we outplayed the opposing team. We just can't seem to put the puck in the back of the net… We played probably two of our best games back-to-back all year this weekend and the results weren't in our favour." The comments come on the heels of a back-to-back set of games this weekend in which the Mustangs outshot their opponents, including a nine-shot advantage over the Lakers, and committed less penalties in both games.

Nipissing played their brand of hockey in the opening period, jumping ahead to a 1-0 lead despite being outshot 8-3 in the first 20 minutes. The goal was the first of three in the game for Tienhaara, who found the loose puck in the Western offensive zone and beat starting goaltender Katie Jacobs on Nipissing's second shot of the matchup.

After neither team committed a penalty in the first period, the Mustangs earned two power play opportunities in the second and tied the game on a power play goal by first-year forward Rachel Armstrong, who had an initial shot attempt by Lyndsay Kirkham deflect off her leg and into the net. The goal is Armstrong's second of her OUA career and extends her personal point streak to three consecutive games.

Much like in the game against Laurentian the day prior, the Mustangs put heavy pressure on their opponents in the final period, outshooting them 14-8 and forcing goaltender Jacqueline Rochefort to make some stellar saves, including denying Marlowe Pecora on a short-handed breakaway midway through the frame.

"Sometimes you got to tip your hat when an opposing player has a good game," Webster added with regards to Rochefort's performance. "I think their goaltender had a good game today. We had some really good scoring opportunities in the third period, we pulled the goaltender and had a couple of deflections, their goalie managed to get her body in front of the puck and it stayed out."

Tienhaara would put the Lakers ahead with under seven minutes remaining in the game with a power play goal and would seal the victory for Nipissing with an empty net marker to complete the first hat trick of her OUA career and bring her season total to four.

Next up for the Mustangs is their first road contest of 2017, as they'll look to end their recent losing streak on Saturday, January 21, in St. Catharines against the Brock Badgers. Game time is set for 2:15 p.m., and fans can catch all the action live on OUA.tv