Manchester, NH – It’s over…

Just like that in a matter of days, the Portland Pirates were bounced out of the playoffs after the Manchester Monarchs defeated them, 7-2, in front 2,136 at the Verizon Wireless Arena.

Players’ and coaches alike were in shock after the Pirates were swept by the Monarchs, 4-0, and will face either the Worcester Sharks or Lowell Devils in the Atlantic Division Finals.

“It’s a huge disappointment right now,” said Pirates’ captain Brad Larsen. “I’m still in shock really. I still believed up until we were down 4-1 that we could come back and win (the game), I really did.”

It’s been a while since the Pirates have been swept in a series, dating back to 2001 when they loss to the Saint John Flames, 3-0, when the divisional semifinals were a best-of-five.

Portland started the game off with a lot of exuberance and gusto, outshooting the Monarchs 22-9 in the first 20 minutes of play, but goalie Jonathan Bernier stopped them all including several spectacular saves to keep the game scoreless.

“We had a pretty good tempo early,” said Pirates head coach Kevin Dineen. “We had a tough time cracking that egg the last four games. (Bernier) is such a big part of their team. (Manchester) really feeds off that.”

The Monarchs opened the scoring when Trevor Lewis skated around the net and whipped a shot on goal that deflected off Pirates goalie Todd Ford just 31 seconds into the second period. Ford was getting his first start of the playoff after joining the team from South Carolina.

In a span of 42 seconds in the period, the Monarchs jumped on the Pirates, giving them a 3-1 lead on goals by Lewis and Bud Holloway.

That ended the night for Ford as JP Lamoureux entered the game, but the goals didn’t stop as Kevin Westgarth put one into the net to put the Pirates in a 4-0 hole.

With the Pirates on a five-on-three, Nathan Gerbe finally put one by Bernier at 18:47 of the second period, as he finished off a tic-tac-toe play in the right circle.

The Pirates moved to within their closest deficit of the night, 4-2, when Mark Mancari broke through when he finished off Derek Whitmore’s cross-ice pass and beat Bernier at 12:10 of the third period.

It was only the Pirates second regulation goal of the series.

Manchester put any doubt to rest on who would win the series as they scored three more goals in the final 3:08 of the game.

“They were the better hockey team in every aspect of the game, and that was disappointing for us as a group,” said Dineen.

“They outplayed us. That’s the bottom line,” said Larsen. “Their goalie played well when we poured it on, and the first two games at home we played very poorly as a group. In these two games, we played pretty hard, but we couldn’t get that goal to get us over the hump.”

Many what-if’s will be asked over the summer, but the pain of giving up a series that Portland felt they should have won was still too present.

“Unfortunately, unless you have a ring on your finger there is always frustration,” said Dineen. “A season ends whether you’ve gone seven games in overtime or it’s a four game sweep. They both certainly have some sting, but this one certainly has a little different feel to it.”

NOTES: The Pirates have gone eight straight games without a playoff win dating back to Game 1 of the 2009 Atlantic Division Semifinal against the Providence Bruins, a 3-0 victory in Providence… Kyle Wanvig, Dennis Persson, Matt Generous and Jhonas Enroth were the scratches for the game.