By BRUCE BERLET, Courant Staff Writer
Joel Bouchard has often said he would like to erase the 2001-02 season from his trading card, a season in which the Albany River Rats won only 14 games.
Bouchard said he didn't get special satisfaction in scoring the winner against his former team with 5:06 left Friday night, but his backhander and Layne Ulmer's power-play goal 55 seconds later gave the Pack a 4-2 victory over the River Rats before 5,296 at the Civic Center.
"Finishing on a positive note is most important," the defenseman said. "To get scored on and then get two back-to-back is good mentally, a good feeling.
"We could have put them away in the first or second period, then we stuck with it, which is like life. That's the only attitude you can have. You can't do anything about the past. We played poorly in every aspect against Manchester [in a 5-1 loss Wednesday], but you've just got to move on, especially heading into the playoffs."
Pack coach Ryan McGill liked how Bouchard scored, after a rush off the left point and out of the corner. It was his first goal in five games since re-signing with the Pack March 17.
"We're looking for him to get low in the offensive zone and create some offense," McGill said. "For him to score right after their [tying] goal was a big key."
The victory kept the Pack (49-23-3-3) in the hunt for the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference titles. They are within four points of Manchester, which lost 4-1 to Lowell. Each has two games left, and the Pack win a tiebreaker. They enter a season-ending home-and-home with Springfield wanting to build toward the playoffs, which will start Thursday or Friday against Lowell or Providence, which clinched the final division playoff berth with a 3-1 victory over Worcester.
"We didn't have a lot of puck luck or get rewarded in the first period, but we made sure we stuck with it and kept getting chances," McGill said. "We gave up two power-play goals, but I thought we should have had four or five short-handed goals in the first two periods.
"But we've been good about bouncing back and showing resiliency after a loss, so the guys deserve a lot of credit and have to build for the last two games. ... The playoffs are a different thing. Eighty games is a mental and physical grind, but once you know the playoffs are around the corner, guys are looking forward to next week."
Jozef Balej scored a short-handed goal 2:33 in off a 2-on-1 with Jamie Lundmark to put the Pack up early. Martin Grenier's screen shot beat Scott Clemmensen at 8:34. Clemmensen (35 saves) kept the Rats in it with stops on Dominic Moore (two), Lundmark and Balej before rookie Zach Parise's backhander went in off the post with 2:05 left in the second to pull the Rats to 2-1.
Steve Valiquette (31 saves) came out to deny Rats leading scorer Dean McAmmond 5:47 into the third. But Ahren Nittel scored off Parise's pass with 6:16 left before Bouchard's tiebreaker and Ulmer's goal, the Pack's first in 23 power-play chances. With the victory, the Pack tied the team record for wins.
Spezza Is AHL MVP
Binghamton center Jason Spezza has won the Les Cunningham Award as AHL MVP, succeeding Pack goalie Jason LaBarbera. Spezza, 21, leads the league in assists (84) and points (116) and is on a 19-game points streak, the longest in seven years.
