Badly outplayed, the Squirrels still came only inches from winning Friday, as they fell to the lowly Home Visions, who celebrated as if they won the championship.

Tied 2-2, Mark Tessar scored on a slap shot in his final game with the Squirrels to give them the lead down the stretch. A late penalty gave Home Visions a power play, plus an extra skater with an empty net. The Squirrels nearly got it in, missing by inches, but Home visions tied the game with 30 seconds remaining, then scored once on the shootout for the win.

The Squirrels have fifth place locked up, but have one game remaining on Tuesday against Panic.

The Squirrels’s losing streak came to an end Tuesday in blowout fashion. The clear difference in the Squirrels’ 8-1 win was goaltending, as Home Visions had plenty of chances of their own.

Six different Squirrels scored while Merritt Lyon made 18 saves, letting only one in late in the third period.

With all three lines contributing, the Squirrels got a much needed victory against Home Visions on Monday, 4-2, despite being badly outshot.

Down 1-0 early, Tero Moberg tied the game later in the first period. The Squirrels had to kill off a 5-on-3 power play early in the second, and though they killed off the first iteration, Home Visions scored on the 5-on-4 power play.

Midway through the second, Mark Tessar made a fantastic move to fake out the goaltender, but what should’ve been a slam dunk hit the post. The Squirrels kept the momentum, however, and Tessar soon got the puck back and tied the game at two on the same play.

With five minutes left in the game, Ben Sumner’s slow knuckler from the right circle, really meant to force a faceoff, ended up going five-hole through the goalie to put the Squirrels up 3-2. Neil Shah gave the Squirrels an insurance goal with less than a minute remaining. Brent Machado had two assists in the game.

Merritt Lyon made 45 saves for the Squirrels, while the Squirrels put up 37 shots of their own.