HARTFORD, Conn. – Jason LaBarbera made 27 saves and Cory Larose and Layne Ulmer scored 24 seconds apart to break a tie late in the second period as the Hartford Wolf Pack beat the Portland Pirates 5-1 Wednesday night.

LaBarbera was elevated to the Wolf Pack’s No. 1 goalie after Johan Holmqvist was traded to Houston Tuesday for defenseman Lawrence Nycholat. He was especially sharp during two early Portland power plays, making nine saves, most notably on Trent Whitfield’s deflection.

Defenseman Dave Karpa’s giveaway led to Chris Ferraro’s goal for Portland at 2:00 of the second period. But the Wolf Pack tied it 17 seconds later when Patrick Yetman stole the puck from Jakub Cutta and put a backhander past All-Star Maxime Ouellet.

Larose, a former star at the University of Maine, put the Wolf Pack ahead to stay off a clearing pass from LaBarbera with 2:45 left in the second period, then Ulmer scored off another Pirates turnover. Chris Pittman and Vladimir Chebaturkin scored a minute apart early in the third period, sending Ouellet to the bench after he allowed five goals on 38 shots.

Rastislav Stana replaced Ouellet and stopped all six shots he faced.

AP-ES-03-12-03 2225EST

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