Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
It has been a trying road for the Hartford Wolf Pack lately, but they have a chance to hit a high note tonight.
The Wolf Pack have just one win in their last 14 games (1-10-1-2) heading into a home date with the Springfield Thunderbirds this evening. But a regulation win over their rivals would secure a second consecutive berth in the Calder Cup Playoffs for Hartford, which currently sits fifth in the Atlantic Division. The Pack are three points ahead of the sixth-place Lehigh Valley Phantoms, who are in Hershey tonight.
Springfield, meanwhile, desperately needs points. With the top six teams in the Atlantic Division able to qualify for the postseason, the seventh-place Thunderbirds are four points behind the Phantoms. Springfield is home Saturday against Charlotte before Providence goes into MassMutual Center on Sunday afternoon to conclude the Thunderbirds’ three-in-three weekend.
Hartford will be tasked with slowing down a dangerous Springfield offense that ranks 11th in the AHL at 3.13 goals per game. With a league-leading 40 goals this season, Thunderbirds forward Adam Gaudette is the first Springfield player to reach that mark since Mike Tomlak (44 goals) and Yvon Corriveau (42) did so for the 1993-94 Indians.
Springfield has won five of eight meetings from Hartford this season, most recently a 6-2 win at the XL Center on Mar. 29.
Over in the North Division, playoff hopes continue to be on the line for the Belleville Senators, who visit Rochester tonight and Saturday.
Belleville brings a four-game winning streak into tonight’s game, and is fresh off a huge 3-2 overtime win at Toronto on Wednesday. In that game, the Senators battled back from a 2-0 deficit, as Wyatt Bongiovanni, a late-season acquisition from Manitoba, tied the game in the third period on the power play before winning the game 1:56 into overtime.
The win lifted Belleville into fifth place in the North Division, one point ahead of Laval. The top five teams in the division will qualify for the Calder Cup postseason.
The Sens have had success at the Blue Cross Arena, where they are 13-5-1-0 all-time in the regular season, but will encounter an Amerks club that has hit its stride down the stretch. Rochester has points in each of its last eight outings (7-0-0-1), and is 6-0-0-1 in its last seven at home.
The Amerks are one point away from clinching a playoff spot, and also one point behind co-leaders Syracuse and Cleveland for…
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