SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Carolina Hurricanes were left shaking their heads again after another one-goal loss in which they thought they deserved a better fate.
This one, a 4-3 loss in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Florida Panthers at FLA Live Arena on Wednesday, ended their season. Matthew Tkachuk, who scored in overtime in the first two games of the best-of-7 series, was the hero for the third time for Florida, scoring a power-play goal with 4.9 seconds remaining in regulation to complete a sweep that felt nothing like that to Carolina.
"It [stinks]," Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho said. "It's almost a little confusing what happened. I don't know."
This was the Hurricanes' third trip to the Eastern Conference Final since winning the Stanley Cup in 2006, and they were swept in all three series -- against the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009, against the Boston Bruins in 2019 and against the Panthers this season. They thought they were ready to take the next step this season after going 52-21-9 and finishing first in their division for the third straight season.
Despite injuries that kept top-six forwards Andrei Svechnikov (torn ACL) and Max Pacioretty (torn Achilles tendon) out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Carolina got past the second round for the first time since 2019. But it couldn't find a way to get the extra goal it needed in each game against Florida.
"That's the unfortunate part of this is you're going to look back and everyone's going to say, 'You got swept,'" Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "That's not what happened. I watched the game. I'm there; we're in the game. We didn't lose four games. We got beat. We were right there, and this could've went the other way, and this could've been four games the other way."
Brind'Amour could find no fault with Carolina's effort in any of the games, particularly Wednesday. The Hurricanes played most of the game with 16 skaters because of upper-body injuries to defenseman Jaccob Slavin, who was injured on a hit from Sam Bennett 1:25 into the first period, and forward Stefan Noesen, who was hurt on his second shift and returned in the second period before leaving again.
Still, Carolina managed to get three goals past Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, equaling its total from the first three games of the series, to battle back from deficits of 2-0 and 3-2. The Hurricanes thought they were headed to overtime for the third time in the series after Jesper Fast's goal with 3:22 left in regulation tied it 3-3.
But after forward Jordan Staal was called for tripping with 57 seconds left, Tkachuk plunged a final painful dagger into the Hurricanes' Stanley Cup aspirations and sent Florida to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1996.
"We were right there," said Staal, who exchanged hugs with brothers Eric and Marc of the Panthers of the post-series handshake line. "It didn't feel like it was a 4-0 sweep series. That's kind of their game, though. They definitely keep you to the outside and keep you from getting those second chances.
"Then, they make you pay going down the other way quickly and have got guys that can score goals and make you pay at the wrong time."
The Hurricanes will have the summer to contemplate the missed chances in their 3-2 quadruple-overtime loss in Game 1 and 2-1 overtime loss in Game 2 at home. A 1-0 defeat in Game 3, when they outshot Florida 25-7 over the second and third periods, was equally frustrating.
"I don't want to use the narrative of lose this guy, lose that guy, lose this guy, but in the grand scheme of things, we were missing a ton of pieces, two huge pieces," Carolina forward Jordan Martinook said. "That's no excuse because we're right there. They swept us, but two overtime games, they score four seconds left and [Game 3] one goal when we were dominating. I don't know what I feel right now. It doesn't feel real."
Maybe it will take a few more days for the Hurricanes players, but, through the immediate disappointment, Brind'Amour was able to find some appreciation and pride in what they were able to accomplish.
"When you look back at this, for us, it's going to be, in general, it's tough to get this far without your top players," Brind'Amour said. "The fact that we did that without two of the top guys that we missed … to come in and actually outchance a team for four games without those guys and then lose Slavin and still continue to forge ahead, that's why I said, I'm proud of this group.
"It's tough and we're not playing (anymore), but I can't ask for a better group or more out of what we got."
