By BRUCE BERLET, Courant Staff Writer
SPRINGFIELD -- Somehow the Wolf Pack's quest for the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference titles lives until the final day of the regular season.
After seemingly being eliminated by Manchester on both fronts Wednesday, the Pack won their second in a row Saturday night, 4-1 over the Springfield Falcons.
Defenseman Thomas Pock, who played at UMass, broke a 1-1 tie with his first AHL goal in 49 games. Pock's was a power-play goal on a screen shot from the left point with 1:30 left in the second. After Jason LaBarbera (25 saves) denied Derek Bekar alone in the slot on a power play with 6:25 left in the third, Alexandre Giroux scored his 31st and 32nd goals in the final 3:46 as the Pack (50-23-3-3) set a franchise record for wins.
"I knew it wasn't going to be college all over again at the start, but I knew it wasn't going to keep going like I did in New York," said Pock, who had two goals and two assists in six games with the Rangers after signing as a free agent last season. "But it's always tough when you first come in [the pros], especially as a rookie and being thrown off by injuries a little.
"But I knew the first goal was going to come. I shot the same shot 15 times before and it didn't go in. Sometimes you have an explanation, sometimes you don't. I'm just glad it went, but it's more important that we play well and win."
Much of this win could be traced to the AHL's No. 2 penalty-killing team going 8-for-8, including allowing only two shots during two Falcons 5-on-3s that covered 6:53.
"Our penalty killing was unbelievable,," coach Ryan McGill said. "But we obviously can't go two men down against a Lowell, Manchester or Providence. We have to be more disciplined, but a lot of guys like [Jozef] Balej, Giroux and Dominic Moore showed a lot of what they can do."
The Pack, who finished 7-1-0-1 against the Falcons, are two points behind first-place Manchester and each team plays today. The Monarchs lost 2-1 in Bridgeport, their second loss since beating the Pack 5-1 Wednesday. The Pack host Springfield today, while the Monarchs are at Worcester in the last game for the IceCats. If the Pack win and the Monarchs lose, the Pack win the division and conference titles because of a 4-3-0-1 series edge.
"Who knows what's going to happen, but we can only worry about ourselves," LaBarbera said. "Obviously if we had won Wednesday it would be a little different story, but it's pretty interesting it's coming down to the last day because we've been battling for that spot all season. I'm sure they don't want to give it up that easy."
Darren Reid broke a lengthy Falcons scoreless drought against the Pack when he picked up a loose puck and whipped a backhander past LaBarbera at 2:25 of the first period. It was the Falcons' first goal against the Pack in 189 minutes spanning five games, including three straight shutouts, since Jan. 8.
The Falcons' Brian Eklund (28 saves) made strong stops on 2-on-1 bids by Jeff Hamilton and Garth Murray, who returned after a one-game suspension and replaced captain Ken Gernander. Gernander was out with an undisclosed injury. He'll also be out today, but Chad Wiseman is expected back from a concussion and will be needed after what transpired with 3:07 left in the first period.
Moments after the Falcons' Jean-Francois Soucy ran Joel Bouchard along the boards, a 10-man melee resulted in 107 penalty minutes and game misconducts to Pack tough guys Trevor Gillies, Steve MacIntryre and Martin Grenier and Springfield's Andre Deveaux and Reid. Grenier will miss today's game and the start of the playoffs because of a two-game suspension for accumulated misconducts. Gillies also faces a suspension, pending a league review, for a match penalty for attempting to injure.
"I don't know what precipitated everything, so I don't know where to start until I look at the tape," McGill said. "We backed off and let them take over the momentum early, then after we killed the penalties we took the game over."
