Canes Coach Brind’Amour Says Team Took Huge Steps This Year Despite Getting Swept

By: Bryce Mitchell

The Carolina Hurricanes’ season ends after losing to the Florida Panthers 4-0 on Wednesday night. The Hurricanes were one of the leading teams of the Eastern Conference ahead of playoffs.

Game 4

Carolina fans watched with hope when Jesper Fast tied the game in the third period with 3:22 left in regulation. Paul Stastny and Teuvo Teravainen gave the Hurricanes their first two goals of the night. 

That hope didn’t last long as Matthew Tkachuk gave the Panthers the title with a game-winning shot with 4.9 seconds left. 

The Carolina Hurricanes did not win a single game of the series, and only scored a total of six goals to Florida’s 10. But, Carolina lost each game by only one goal. 

Brind’Amour believes they weren’t swept  

Despite Florida sweeping the series, coach Rod Brind’Amour said in the post-game press conference that “everyone’s going to say we got swept and that’s not what happened.” 

Brind’Amour said the game was “tough,” but he turned the defeated attitude around saying the team took “huge steps this year,” and that coming this far in the season was “impressive.” 

Brind’Amour was also frustrated with the penalty call on Jordan Staal, which set up the game-winning play for Florida. The refs also didn’t call a high stick in game three. 

Staal commented during post-game saying, “we’re going to learn from this and this core group is going to find a way to get to the end.” 

The last time Carolina won a conference finals series game, Brind’Amour was on the ice and led the team to that year’s Stanley Cup title. Since that 2006 title, Carolina has consecutively lost 12 conference final games. 

Brind’Amour and his Canes will have to wait until October to hit the ice again.