The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold women's hockey team kept their playoff hopes alive on Thursday evening, shutting out the York Lions in a 5-0 thrashing over their division rival.

Payton Kerr pieced together a hat trick in the winning effort to help steer the Bold to an integral trio of points, snatching a pair of goals in the second period before adding another in the closing stages of the third. 

Emily Baxter chipped in a goal and two assists to grow her point total to 19 while Tori Butler added a trio of helpers to expedite the Bold's pulverizing win. 

Gaby Gareau whistled her fifth goal of the season off the crossbar and into the back of York's net to open the floodgates for TMU in the first period.  

Gareau has placed herself into the mix of TMU's leading offensive producers as of late with a trio of tallies in her last five contests, showing that the 12-game goalless drought that nabbed her throughout the second half of the season was merely a blip in the radar for the sophomore forward. 

TMU doubled down on their lead midway through the second period, taking advantage of the Lions' lack of discipline to help add onto their score. 

Kerr took credit for putting the Bold ahead of the Lions with a pair of goals in a 6:33 span, including a powerplay marker similar to the third-year's goal against the Ridgebacks last Friday. 

TMU's head coach Lisa Haley had nothing but praise to steer towards her veteran forward following the game, believing that Kerr's offensive explosion on Thursday was well overdue.

"[Payton's] production this year has gone on a pretty steep incline," mentioned Haley following the win. "She's been a real spark plug for us over this last little stretch."

As the Bold struck while the iron was hot in the second frame, their netminder Alexia Stratos equally rose to the task to keep the team's lead intact during the must-win contest. 

Faced with redirections throughout the night from just outside the lip of her posts, Stratos stood tall for the Bold while putting her reflexes on full display. 

The second-year finished Thursday's victory over the Lions with 27  saves and a second-consecutive win to add onto her season total. 

Thursday's win gives the Bold a chance at the final playoff spot in the OUA East and sets the blue and gold up for its biggest challenge of the campaign with a pair of must-win games against Laurier and the University of Toronto (UofT). 

The Bold will need to pick up wins in each of their final two games of the season to have a shot at making the OUA playoffs. Butler - who is gearing up for the final two games of her TMU Bold career - understands what will be needed of not just her, but the rest of the Bold in the games to come. 

"We go into these games with a playoff mentality, it's do or die now," mentioned Butler. "Right now we control our own destiny," she added. 

Heading into Friday's crucial matchup with the Golden Hawks, Haley shares the same sentiments as her players and is not bothered by her side's winless record against both the opponents standing in her way. 

"I don't really care if we have to play the Toronto Maple Leafs, we know we have to win it," said Haley. "It's going to be fun to see what we're made of."

TMU have played postseason hockey in each of their last five seasons. They rely on the production of not just themselves during this final stretch of the season, but also the success of the two teams ahead of them in the standings. 

A win from Ontario Tech or York over their final four games can mathematically put an end to TMU's playoff hopes. 

The Bold have season sweeps over both of them.