LONDON, Ont.—A goal from Rachel Armstrong just over five minutes into the second overtime period lifted the Western Mustangs to a series-clinching 3-2 victory against the Guelph Gryphons in game two of their OUA Semifinal series on Friday night at Thompson Arena.
 
"We always say to our team: good teams find a way to win," said Mustangs head coach Kelly Paton. "I think that's been pretty evident in the last few games through the playoffs. Moments where we feel like we're under pressure we're doing enough to keep the puck out of our net, and then scoring big goals at timely moments is certainly helping the success of our team."
 
The win gives the Mustangs a 2-0 series victory over the Gryphons and sends the purple and white to the McCaw Cup final where they'll take on the Queen's Gaels for the OUA Championship.
 
Armstrong's goal was her first of the post-season, and followed up goals from Ali Beres and Amanda Pereira who scored their first and second playoff goals, respectively, early in the first period.
 
Kaitlyn Lowy provided both of Guelph's goals to give her three for the 2018 playoffs.
 
Carmen Lasis continued her strong rookie season with a 40-save performance on Friday to earn the win, while Valerie Lamenta stopped 29 shots for the Gryphons.
 
Western didn't wait long to open the scoring as they put their first points on the board just 89 seconds into the contest. Beres' shot flew past goalie Valerie Lamenta and hit the top of the net, landing past the goal line to give Western the early lead.
 
Not even two minutes later, the Gryphons tied things up, as Lowy received a pass from across the ice before going top corner to make it a 1-1 game.
 
Three minutes after that, Western retook their lead. Pereira scored on the Mustangs second shot of the night with another high shot, aided by traffic in front of the net to allow the puck to get past Lamenta.
 
The scoring pace slowed down from there, with the Mustangs keeping Guelph off the board for the remainder of the frame despite being outshot 10-4 in the opening 20 minutes.
 
The beginning of the second period featured Western's dominating penalty kill where they limited the Gryphons to one shot and got one of their own as they consistently iced the puck to kill off an interference call.
 
Eight minutes into the frame, Lowy scored her second of the game with a hard low shot to tie the game at 2-2 heading into the third.
 
The final period of regulation time featured tight back-and-forth play. Western took seven shots, and Guelph eight, but neither could score the winning goal, and the teams moved into a 20 minute five on five overtime.
 
The Gryphons managed a break away at the end of the first overtime, but Renae Nevills stole the puck away from their skater with four seconds left to send the game into another extra frame.
 
Five minutes into the final overtime, Armstrong sent the puck past Lamenta to give Western both the game and the series, while also sending her team to the OUA final.
 
"We got lucky. Guelph was changing, I got a nice breakout pass from the [defence], and I just beat her wide and shot low and luckily it went in," said Armstrong. "I didn't even know it crossed the line to be honest, I heard screaming and I looked in the back of the net and it was there. I just got mobbed by my team, so it was great. It's nice to know that we're going to nationals—we earned it—and OUA championship's next weekend."
 
The Mustangs will face Queen's next Saturday for the McCaw Cup. Game time is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. in Kingston, and fans can catch all the action live on OUA.tv