PROVIDENCE - Jason Platt had just driven all day Thursday from Augusta, Georgia where he was playing in the East Coast Hockey League, to his girlfriend's condo in Bellingham, arriving at 5:30 in the morning Friday.

The former Providence College Friar (class of 2004) and his fiance were to be boarding a plane today for California, back to his hometown of San Francisco.

But, on Saturday night he received a call from Providence Bruins coach Scott Gordon, asking him to suit up Sunday afternoon.

Platt will have to postpone that plane trip after scoring the game-winning goal in overtime Sunday at the DDC, the lone goal in a 1-0 decision over the Atlantic Division-leading Manchester Monarchs.

In concluding the regular AHL season unbeaten over their past six games in regulation time (3-0-2-1), Providence earned the No. 3 seed in the division for the Calder Cup playoffs. The P-B's will play the first two of a best-of-seven game series Wednesday and Friday in Hartford against the Wolfpack, then return to home ice for games Nos. 3 and 4, April 21 and 24. Manchester, which entered the game unbeaten (9-0) and with a 38-15 scoring advantage during that span, was blanked from the scoreboard by Providence goalie Jordan Sigalet (22 saves), making his first appearance since March 10.

Sigalet and the P-B's denied the Monarchs on a trio of power-play chances in the first period, nine second-period shots and three more power-play chances in the third period. Not to mention that Platt, a rugged (6-1, 210) defenseman hurled his weight around, engaging in some second period fisticuffs with Manchester's Paul Crosty at the eight-minute mark, suffering a first punch knockdown - "I'll have to see the tape," explained the free agent.

Platt forced the issue with

P-B's forward Marco Rosa in creating the game-winning goal sequence. Rosa took a Monarch defenseman into the corner and somehow sent a bobbling puck back in front of Manchester goalie Yutaka Fukufuji.

"It was the end of the shift and I was debating when I got to the blue line whether to drop it in," said Platt, who stayed with it. "The puck was bobbling and somehow it found its way through - I got a good piece of it."

Platt, who had scored just one goal in his injury-plagued ECHL career (39 games) this season was stunned. He had played in three games with Providence back in November, but got sent down to Augusta, where he suffered a shoulder injury which kept him off the ice for better than six weeks. He wasn't back two weeks, when he suffered a knee injury and was out another two weeks.

The way that Platt's season was going, he was preparing to back up his bags, go home and get ready for next season. "I had no clue that I was going to get called (by Providence)," said Platt, who totaled five goals in 126 games as a Friar and one goal over the past three seasons (105 games) with three AHL clubs.

"There are an awful lot of good players in the ECHL, it was a good experience for me to work on different parts of my game," said Platt. "I've been working on my offense! When I got here this morning, Scott (Gordon) said to be physical."

PENALTY SHOTS - Providence defenseman Matt Lashoff suffered an undisclosed "upper body" injury with six minutes left in the first period, crashing into the boards head first, but skating off the ice favoring his right arm and wrist "Our guys were very physical," said Gordon, Providence finishing the season series at 3-5 against Manchester. He rested leading scorer David Krejci (34 goals, 43 assists) and No. 2 scorer T.J. Trevelyan (28 goals, 24 assists), inserting players like Platt, Levi Nelson (first game), Bill Leclerc (4th game), Ryan Glenn (4th game), Chris Collins (17th game) and Sigalet (only his third appearance since Feb. 24) "There are always extenuating circumstances when you play," he said of the number of players lost through trades, recalls to Boston and injury. "We've lost a lot, every time that Boston made a trade it took from us. That's what we're here for (development), but we got so thin. So you bear with it. The bottom theme is that we didn't change anything." As for meeting Hartford, "Go Rangers," said Gordon. "By far, they are one of the most physical teams in the league. They have a good mix of skill, physical players and great depth." Providence will be making its eighth straight playoff appearance, its 12th in its 14 franchise years - four under Gordon In pre-game awards, Lashoff was voted the team's best defenseman by his peers, Krejci received the Rookie of the Year award, Nate Thompson received the Fans Appreciation award and Ben Walter was honored as team MVP.