An early lead and some consistent penalty killing sealed a third straight playoff win for the No. 10 nationally ranked York Lions women's hockey team in North Bay, Ont. They downed the Nipissing Lakers in the opening game of the OUA semifinal with a 5-2 victory Thursday night.
 
The result is the third straight playoff win for York. They take a commanding 1-0 series lead in the best-of-three semifinal, and are one win away from a berth in the McCaw Cup final.
 
Nipissing opened the scoring just three minutes into the opening period courtesy of a goal from Brittany Gaffney, but for the next two periods it was York on the attack.
 
The Lions scored three unanswered goals, beginning with a rocket of a shot from the slot by Kara Washer at 6:18 of the first to tie the game.
 
Ellen Donaldson got the next one for the Lions, notching her first career playoff goal while shorthanded. Lakers defenders left her a lane to the net, and the Tecumseh, Ont., native took a pass from Sarah Power and made no mistake. At 16:25 of the first, York had their first lead of Game 1.
 
Then, Ava Ricker-Singh notched her second goal of the playoffs, deflecting home a shot from Madison Davey to extend the Lions lead to two.
 
It wasn't only an offensive clinic in the first half of the game – the Lions built up their lead while killing five straight penalties. York's perfect penalty-killing streak ended in the dying seconds of the second, when Gaffney added her second goal of the contest on the sixth Lakers power play of the game. That made it 3-2.
 
York shut down the host Lakers in the game's final period, limiting them to eight shots and no scoring. The Lions had unassisted goals from Erin Locke and Courtney Gardiner in the third, making the final score 5-2 Lions.
 
Serena Vilde made 22 saves in her third consecutive victory. She needs one more playoff win to equal her total of four from the regular season.
 
The Lions can clinch a chance to play for both the OUA's McCaw Cup, and the U SPORTS national championship, with a victory Saturday afternoon at Canlan Ice Sports. The puck drops on Game 2 of the series at 2:15pm.