SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Two games left in the regular season, and the Springfield Thunderbirds are hoping to clinch a playoff berth with back-to-back wins.

Heading into the weekend, the team sits at 7^th place in the AHL Atlantic Division in a year that's been filled with adversity.

"A lot of it is unfortunate circumstances, we've had key pieces, our captains getting hurt and so forth," said Interim Head Coach Daniel Tkaczuk. "But we've had a lot of guys come in and contribute and expand their roles, some guys have had great individual seasons, and we're still in the picture."

One of those players who has had a great individual season is right wing Adam Gaudette who currently leads the AHL in goals scored with 44.

If Gaudette maintains first place to close out the year, he would be the first Springfield player to do so since 1991.

"His goal scoring ability, his strength on the puck, his ability to shoot and he's had to play with different guys throughout the year because of our injuries," Tkaczuk said.  "And it didn't matter what our lineup looked like, he's been competitive the whole way and he gives us a chance to win. "

"Honestly, I just want to win, and I think the rest of the guys can vouch for that," said Gaudette.  "But it's definitely nice to be recognized especially after years of work put in trying to get back to this level of play. So it's great to see that it's paying off but personally I just want to help these guys get into the playoffs."

Thursday morning the Thunderbirds were back on the ice in preparation for their back-to-back weekend regular season finale starting Friday night against the Providence Bruins.

A team they defeated last Sunday, Gaudette hopes to start the final push with a repeat performance.

"We need to win out here," Gaudette said. "Big two games, we can only control what we can control here so we're just gonna go in and do the same thing we did last game to them. We gotta play hard, we gotta play our way, and hopefully get two wins here and get into the playoffs."

After Friday night's game in Rhode Island, the Thunderbirds will host their final regular season game of the year at the Mass Mutual Center Saturday night.