MONTREAL – Five power play goals lifted the Concordia Stingers to a 7-4 win over the Western Mustangs on Friday night at the Ed Meagher Arena.
 
The loss was a tough one for Western's playoff hopes, particularly with Lakehead defeating Waterloo earlier in the evening. The purple and white now sit five points back of the Warriors for the final playoff spot in the West with only three games remaining.
 
Special teams were the story of the game as, especially for the first two periods, the game became a parade to the penalty box. The teams combined for 24 penalties on the night, with all but one resulting in a power play. The Mustangs converted on two of their 10 chances, while the Stingers were a potent 5-13.
 
Greg Dodds made 36 stops in another strong outing for Western, while Stingers goaltender Phillippe Cadorette responded with 37 saves of his own.
 
The Stingers jumped out to an early 3-0 lead on the back of three markers on the man advantage, scored by Phillippe Sanche, Antoine Masson and Anthony Cortese. Mickael Beauregard picked up an assist on each goal.
 
The Mustangs would cut the lead to two just before intermission when Andrew Goldberg found a Matt Marantz rebound in the crease and scored.
 
They made it a one goal game just under six minutes into the second period when Spenser Cobbold tapped home a beautiful cross-crease pass from Rob Polesello on a 5-on-3.
 
However, things began to turn in the Stingers favor again as Concordia answered with two goals of their own to restore the three-goal advantage. Curtis Gass and Matthieu Desautels provided the offence for the Stingers as they led 5-2 after two periods.
 
The Mustangs kept things close in the third period as Polesello and Golberg both scored in the first five minutes of the frame, though OUA scoring leader Anthony De Luca also added one for Concordia.
 
That would be as close as things would get, with Sanche adding an empty net goal in the final seconds to give the Stingers a 7-4 victory.
 
Western continues its road trip tomorrow afternoon when they take on the UQTR Patriotes at 4 p.m. with live streaming available on OUA.tv