Austin Connelly, For MacEwan Athletics

EDMONTON – A late third period goal by Amanda Murray and stellar goaltending performance from Brianna Sank propelled the Griffins past the SAIT Trojans 2-1 in Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference women's hockey action on Friday night at the Downtown Community Arena.

The Griffins' ninth-straight victory improves their record to 16-3-0-0 as the season dwindles down into the final stretch, while dropping SAIT to 4-12-1-0.

"Unfortunately, I thought we took a step back from where we were playing last weekend," said Griffins head coach Lindsay McAlpine. "But credit to SAIT, I thought they played really well – they came out hard, they're fighting for a playoff spot and their goalie played great."

With just 6:30 left in the game, Murray stole a breakout pass from the right face-off dot and quickly wired a snapshot past SAIT's Kaylin Schellenberg for the game-winner.

"We know this has potential to be a first-round matchup for us," said McAlpine. "It was a good emotional victory for us to get the win."

A relentless first period from the Griffins saw a few great chances, including a Shyla Jans breakaway that was denied early on.

Midway through the frame, the Griffins would finally open the scoring on an unbelievable individual effort by Jill MacWilliam, who shed her defender with a slick move and, before getting tripped in tight, moved the puck to her backhand and roofed it under the bar while falling down.

"I honestly think that would be number one," said MacWilliam on where she would rank that on highlight goals she scored before. "I didn't even know it went in – I was just sitting on the ice and everyone started to yell."

With five minutes left in the first period, Sank would produce her own highlight-reel play. After initially getting deked to one side, she kicked out her pad to deny SAIT from a sure goal and stopped the ensuing rebound to keep the Griffins on top.

But with 8.8 seconds left in the period, SAIT would tie it up after the original shot would trickle through Sank's equipment, leaving an empty net for Kelsey Patterson to tap the puck in.

"Our biggest battle is emotional consistency and playing a full 60 minutes and it was just kind of a rollercoaster," said MacWilliam. "I think it was good until they scored their first goal, and then we just kind of died a little bit."

The goal wouldn't shake Sank's confidence as she would make a few huge stops on the penalty kill early in the second to keep the game tied.

She continued her brilliant play with a huge blocker save to kick off the third period, while the Griffins generated a few great scoring chances but couldn't solve Schellenberg, who finished with 36 saves.

"She was solid," said McAlpine on the play of Sank, who finished with 24 saves. "I thought she made some really critical saves on some breakaways for us."

The Griffins will look to make it 10 in a row when they hit the road to finish up the weekend series in Calgary on Saturday (7 p.m., ACAC TV).