By MARK PUKALO, Courant Staff Writer
WORCESTER -- The Wolf Pack struggled to sustain much offense and ill-advised penalties put them in a corner, but goalie Jason LaBarbera gave them plenty of time to make enough plays to leave with a victory.
LaBarbera made 41 saves Wednesday night as the Wolf Pack defeated Worcester 3-2 at the DCI Center to stay two points behind Manchester in the Atlantic Division.
Jamie Lundmark and Ryan Hollweg each had a goal and an assist for the Pack (47-21-3-3), who won their fourth straight. The playoff hopes for Worcester (36-31-4-3) grew dimmer.
"We played in spurts tonight," Pack coach Ryan McGill said. "Give [Worcester] credit. They played for their lives. They know what's at stake. We tried to sleepwalk through the game.
"I don't think we were mentally disciplined. We got two points because our goalie was good and we got a timely goal early in the third period."
Hollweg got that one, his first since March 7, on a 3-on-2 break. Jeff Hamilton (two assists) moved the puck to Lundmark, who dropped the puck to Hollweg. He beat goalie Curtis Sanford glove side 57 seconds in for a 3-1 lead.
"It was just a good rush and I called for the puck and Lundy gave me a great pass," Hollweg said. "I've been looking to contribute more offensively. Our line was moving the puck well and getting in on the forecheck. That's what we need to do to win games."
Jeff Hoggan scored a power-play goal with 2:02 left.
LaBarbera made 19 saves in the third and 16 in the first.
"We owe him another one," Wolf Pack forward Alexandre Giroux said.
The Wolf Pack came out skating well and took the lead at 3:19 of the first. Hamilton had three swipes near the left post and the rebound trickled to Lundmark, who moved in from the top of the left circle to chip it in.
Worcester, with one victory in its last 10 games, turned up the pressure and the Pack struggled to get the puck deep. LaBarbera still almost sent the Pack to the locker room with the lead, making big stops on Jay McClement, Aris Brimanis and Hoggan.
But Eric Boguniecki tied the score with 2:46 left in the first, flipping in a rebound at the left post after a scrum in front. It was the sixth goal in six games for the West Haven native.
"[LaBarbera] got us out of some tough situations," Hollweg said. "We're going to make mistakes and we know he's going to be there for us. We had to capitalize when we got chances."
The Pack had only six shots in the second period, but took the lead on a heady play by Giroux on the power play. He swooped in from behind to steal the puck from Brimanis and went in alone to score his team-leading 30th goal.
"I was coming back in the zone and the defenseman didn't see me," Giroux said. "I just took it off his stick."
The Pack have won four of their last five road games. They also won the last season series with Worcester, 5-3. Worcester's franchise moves to Peoria, Ill., next season.
McGill said it's the first game in the last five the Pack have not stuck to the game plan.
"There's always things that we can do better," Hollweg said. "But the most important thing is we stuck together and got the two points."
