LONDON, Ont. – The Mustangs played their first game of the weekend Friday night in Thompson Arena. Western faced off against the Windsor Lancers in their first matchup of the 2019-20 campaign.

The Lancers and Mustangs traded powerplay opportunities early in the first, but neither team capitalized on the man-advantage. With 8 minutes remaining the Lancers came close to striking first, but Luke Peressini made a sprawling save to maintain a scoreless game.

the goaltenders remained the stars of the period, despite several high-quality scoring opportunities for both teams. The first period ended with a still-scoreless game. The Mustangs outshot the Lancers 13-10.

The second period started much as the first had ended with both teams pouring on shots to no avail. The Mustangs carried play leading to the Lancers taking a penalty in the defensive zone with 12:46 to play.

The opportunity would net the Mustangs the first goal of the game. Sean Montgomery shoveled the puck into a gaping net after a cross-crease pass from James Cordell. The play started with Ethan Szypula ripping a shot that was blocked by a Lancer, then recollected by Szypula who sent the puck to Cordell in the high slot.

Anthony Stefano nearly put the Mustangs up by two goals when he rang a shot against the goalpost on a breakaway opportunity. Western continued peppering the Windsor net to no avail. Goal-scorer Sean Montgomery spoke after the game on the play of the Lancers' goaltender.

"He played a great game. We had a lot of great chances that didn't go in and you just have to tip your hat to him. We played well, but one goal just wasn't enough"

The Windsor Lancers had a chance to respond with a powerplay moments later, but the Mustangs penalty-killing unit proved up to the task.

The second period ended with the Mustangs killing off another penalty and preserving a one-goal lead.

Windsor finally broke through with 10 minutes remaining in the third period. The goal tied the game for the Lancers, making the last 10 minutes of the game crucial.

The Mustangs would get a golden opportunity to end the game in regulation when they went to the powerplay with 2:05 remaining in the contest. Western was unable to capitalize and the game moved to overtime.

Windsor scored the game-winning goal at 2:13 of the overtime period when a two-on-none breakaway ended up in the back of the net.

Despite the loss, Luke Peressini put in his best performance of the year. Head Coach Clarke Singer spoke about Peressini's presence after the game:

"When we needed him, he made the big saves. Luke's going to be there in the end. He has pedigree, he's a great kid, works hard, he has great game and has been our back-to-back MVP. We're looking forward to him playing a lot more and playing well for us."

Western heads out on the road to play Waterloo Saturday night.