PORTLAND — They’re out of wiggle room. And barring a win tonight by the Portland Pirates, they’ll be out of luck, too.

The Pirates put themselves in desperate straits Thursday night by dropping a 2-1 heartbreaker to the Providence Bruins to fall behind three-games-to-one in their best-of-seven Atlantic Division seminifinal series.

A win in Providence tonight in Game 5 will keep the Buccos breathing for another day at least.

A loss, however, would send them back to their lockers for clean-out duty.

In other words, they’re in deep trouble.

“We’re not looking at how many games we need to win,” said veteran right wing Colin Murphy. “We just need to worry about (Friday). We can’t look too far ahead about how many games we need to win the series. We’re down, three to one. But it’s the first one to four. Anything can happen.”

For the better part of two periods, it looked as though good things would happen for Portland.

The Pirates led 1-0 after one period, and would have doubled the lead had Murphy been able to convert his late penalty-shot opportunity.

As it was, Mark Mancari put Portland in front at 11:55, when he polished off a nifty three-way passing play.

Tim Kennedy, newly installed at left wing passed ahead into the left circle to new linemate Marek Zagrapan. Zagrapan, in turn dished across the crease to Mancari, who rapped the puck into the open right side.

Six minutes later, Murphy barreled in alone on Peebs goalie Tuukka Rask, but was tripped up by defenseman Adam McQuaid before he could get off a shot.

Referee Chris Brown signaled a penalty shot, but on the ensuing attempt, Murphy was thwarted by Rask, who cut down the angle and made a pad save.

“I was just trying to go to my back hand,” said Murphy, “and put it through his ”˜five hole.’”

Said Rask, “Coming back from 2-0 would have been tough. I just wanted to let him make the first move, and go from there.”

The Pirates nursed the lead deep into the second period, as the contest settled into a goalie’s duel between Rask (31 stops) and Portland’s Jhonas Enroth (35 saves).

Then Providence struck for both its goals in the space of 2:30 and spun the game on its axis.

Brad Marchand was credited with the first of those, when a Johnny Boychuk’s left point shot snuck through a tangle and rattled Enroth.

Then, with 17 seconds left in the stanza, Kirk MacDonald took Wacey Rabbit’s dish into the right circle, then zipped a wrister over Enroth’s shoulder, making it 2-1.

That one held up as the game-winner despite a strong show of third period urgency by the Pirates.

“It certainly didn’t work out the way we wanted it to,” said Pirates coach Kevin Dineen. “We’re obviously disappointed with the final outcome.”

EMPTY NETTERS: If Portland wins tonight, Game 6 would be played Sunday afternoon (4 p.m.) at the Civic Center. The Pirates failed to convert either of their power play chances, and is now 0-for-15 in the series.

— Contact Dan Hickling at 282-1535 ext. 318 or dhickling@gwi.net.