A bad bounce in overtime damned the Gaels in their final regular season home game.

After a back and forth regulation that saw three lead changes, Ottawa Gee-Gees’ forward Matthieu Tanguay-Theriault scored the 4-3 overtime winner on a deflection off a Gaels’ skate.

“We executed well and it was a well structured game,” head coach Brett Gibson said, “but [it ended on] another bad bounce in overtime that cost us a point.”

Keeping with the season’s overall trend, the unfortunate loss followed a 7-2 dominating victory over RMC on Thursday and came after the team blew another late third-period lead.

“I’ve seen goals this year go in that I’ve never seen [even in] my playing career, and they’re costing us games,” Gibson said. “You want to say it’s a fluke but when it happens consistently it’s frustrating.”

The penalty kill has been more than effective, operating at 89 per cent over the past five games, including two short-handed tallies.

Gaels’ defenceman Patrick McEachen believes the recent special teams’ success is essential to their upcoming postseason campaign.

“As the games become tougher and goals are harder to come by, capitalizing on our power play chances will be vital to us having success,” McEachen said.

With only two games remaining in the regular season, the Gaels still have a chance at sixth seed in the OUA East, currently held by the Toronto Varsity Blues.

“We need to avoid small defensive breakdowns that lead to us giving up goals late in games,” McEachen said. “We need to concentrate on sticking to our aggressive fore-check and the systems that are in place.

“We’re not going to make any drastic changes at this point.”