HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – Jason LaBarbera made 25 saves and Jozef Balej scored a power-play goal 5:07 into the game to lead the Hartford Wolf Pack to a 1-0 victory in their American Hockey League Atlantic Division playoff series Tuesday night.

The victory ended the Wolf Pack’s six-game playoff losing streak and tied the best-of-seven series at one game each. Game 3 is Friday night in Maine.

LaBarbera, the AHL’s MVP for the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference champions, recorded his 14th shutout of the season. He was sharp in a 90-second flurry in the second period, stopping Ivan Ciernik’s breakaway and denying Dwayne Zinger and Roman Tvdron on successive 2-on-1s. He also stopped Colin Forbes and Alexander Semin in the final 35 seconds after the Pirates pulled goalie Rastislav Stana for a sixth attacker.

Balej scored the only goal off a rebound by Fedor Tjutin, who had pirouetted away from Jason Ulmer in front of the net after taking a pass from Ken Gernander.

Rastislav Stana had 33 saves for the Pirates.

AP-ES-04-21-04 2224EDT