The Squirrels gave up an uncharacteristic seven goals Thursday as the D.C. Fire came away with a 7-5 victory after six lead-changes.

The Squirrels got the scoring started in the first period as Ben Sumner centered to Brent Machado, who roofed a shot to give the Squirrels the lead. The Fire scored the next two goals, the second of which came on a power play.

In the second period, Tony Richelsen – playing defense – made several nifty moves into the zone but his shot sailed wide. The puck eventually came to Paul Kobernick, who swatted it home from the left side of the net. The Fire scored a minute later, then Ed Bager scored on a power play to tie the game again. The Squirrels took the lead midway through the second period on a very bizarre play. As the teams skated 4-on-4, Desi Richelsen shot the puck toward the goaltender from the Squirrels’ zone. The Fire’s goaltender then hit it to a defenseman, but the puck bounced off of him and went in. Unfortunately for the Squirrels, that lead didn’t hold, as the Fire scored a minute later on the power play, then on yet another power play with 42 seconds remaining in the period to retake the lead, 5-4.

Sumner scored at 10:10 of the third period to tie the game at 5-5, but the Fire scored the final two goals.

The Squirrels posted 29 shots on goal, including 16 in the final period, as the Fire shot 30.

The Squirrels played without Matt Borlik, Chi Pham, Wade Marks and Sergio Balatan. The next game is Sunday, Dec. 3, at 10:30 p.m. against the Mighty Old Ducks in the Patrick rink.