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By DAN HICKLING, Special to Portland Press Herald Thursday, February 22, 2007

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The Portland Pirates had taken several strides forward over the past two weeks, putting themselves back in the Calder Cup playoff race.

But even they consider Wednesday night's 4-0 shutout at the hands of the Providence Bruins a step backward.

"For whatever reason, we weren't sharp in a lot of the aspects we needed to be as we were in the last six games," said Pirates captain Kent Huskins. "They played a lot smarter game than we did, and they outbattled us all over the ice.

"We need to get back to that mentality (of) desperation that we'd been playing with."

The Pirates did outshoot the Bruins 30-24 and had several more shots blocked by Providence defenders.

But they couldn't put one past goalie Jordan Sigalet, who recorded his second shutout of the season.

"That was a team that had a lot more want than we did," said Portland Coach Kevin Dineen, whose team had gone 4-1-1 in its previous six starts. "All year long, even when we had a really tough stretch, I found it hard to criticize our guys. But (after Wednesday night's game), I find it very hard to find anything good to talk about."

Portland trailed 1-0 after one period and 3-0 after two, with forward Dennis Packard scoring two of those goals.

Packard, who had just five goals in 93 previous AHL games, got his second of the season at 13:20, taking Jeff Hoggan's feed from the left corner and surprising Portland goalie Mike Wall with a wrister from the circle.

Packard scored again, this time short-handed, at 2:37 of the second. He skated in alone on Wall, got him to commit and then slid the puck inside the left post.

Providence defensemen Sean Curry and Matt Lashoff added the final goals, leaving the Pirates to prepare for the tough three-game weekend ahead.

"There's no time to sulk about this one," said Huskins. "We have to learn from it, then get ready for the next (one)."

NOTES: The newest Pirate, 6-foot-5 Mike Hoffman, and former Pirates defenseman Dwayne Zinger tussled midway through the first period. Hoffman, signed to a two-year deal by Anaheim after being released by the Manchester Monarchs, received praise from Dineen. "I thought he had a solid game," Dineen said. "He looks like a guy who can play some pretty solid hockey for me." Dineen also said Hoffman's arrival does not affect the role of Trevor Gillies, who had been sent to Augusta of the ECHL earlier this month. In fact, Dineen confirmed that Gillies has been recalled and will rejoin the Pirates in time for today's practice. "We evaluate all our players on what's best for our lineup. There are guys who don't bring the passion that Trevor does," Dineen said.