The Carolina Hurricanes have been swept three times since they moved to North Carolina. Two of those sweeps have already been covered, coming in the conference finals in 2009 and 2019. The third occurrence came in 2023 at the hands of the Florida Panthers. In one series, we witnessed the birth of a dynasty and the beginning of a villain arc for a player who was nearly a Hurricane.
The Canes and the Cats experienced very different regular seasons in 2022-23. Carolina stood atop the Metropolitan Division by the thinnest of margins, wrapping it up on the final days of the season with a win in Sunrise over the Panthers. It was their third consecutive division crown, setting them up for a long run with home ice advantage.
Meanwhile, the Panthers were the final team into the playoffs, edging out the Sabres and the Penguins by one point to claim the final spot in the East. Then, they pulled off one of the greatest upsets in Stanley Cup Playoffs history, beating the 135-point Boston Bruins with a Game 7 overtime thriller. They also beat Toronto in five games. Carolina was the favorite, but the Panthers were hungry.
#24: The Canes felt countless heartbreaks as their ECF luck stayed sour
Game 1 was an all-time classic, and it will likely remain so for the rest of time. The opening game of the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals was a marathon of epic proportions. The Canes' power play took advantage of a chance late in the first period to get on the board first. Seth Jarvis hammered one past Sergei Bobrovsky as a 5-on-3 ended to open things up.
Florida struck back for two in the second period, taking their first lead of the series. Goals 2:15 apart from Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe put Florida in front heading into the third. Stefan Noesen pulled the Canes even again, finishing a beautiful passing sequence on the power play. That's the last scoring we'd have for a very long time as the teams needed overtime to settle the opener.
The Panthers thought they'd won it in the first overtime when Ryan Lomberg put one in, but a successful challenge for goalie interference took it away. What followed was a lifetime's worth of chances to end it that never came. Bobrovsky and Frederik Andersen were going toe-to-toe, and neither was willing to blink and concede.
Eventually, it had to end, though the winning goal didn't come until nearly 2 am. With 12.7 seconds remaining in the fourth overtime, Matthew Tkachuk finished it for good. It all began with a turnover in the defensive zone, giving Tkachuk enough room to beat Andersen glove-side. Lasting 139:47, it remains the sixth-longest game in NHL history and easily the longest for each team.
Needing to get it back, the Canes started Game 2 on time. Jalen Chatfield finished a pass from Sebastian Aho at the top of the crease just 103 seconds into the game to get the home crowd roaring. Each team had a goal taken away by a successful offside challenge before the end of the period, so Chatfield's goal stood as the only tally during the opening 20 minutes.
Barkov's second goal in as many games came in the second period, and it was the lone remaining goal during regulation. Once again, overtime was required. We didn't have to wait nearly as long for the winner this time. However, this story has the same hero, or villain, depending on which side you're on. Tkachuk scored 1:51 into overtime on the power play, putting the Canes in a 2-0 hole.
With the series shift comes even more frustration for Carolina
You couldn't help but feel a little discouraged by how the series started. In both games at PNC Arena, the Canes were right there. They could've easily won both contests, or at the very least split before heading to Florida for Games 3 and 4. Instead, backed by incredible goaltending and the beginnings of one of the clutchest series by a player ever, they were in a rough spot.
Their position didn't get any better in Game 3. Only one goal was scored; it came almost exactly halfway through the game on the power play, and it wasn't scored by Carolina. Sam Reinhart buried a chance from the right dot, and that's all Bobrovsky needed. The Canes threw 32 shots at the Florida netminder, and he stopped them all. Florida was one win away from continuing their improbable run.
Obviously, we know how this one ended, and it's one of the toughest pills we've ever had to swallow. However, it didn't come without an incredible fight. Anthony Duclair put Florida ahead 41 seconds into the game, and Tkachuk added another on the power play halfway through the period. It felt like the Panthers had assumed complete control.
Paul Stastny finally broke the Canes' goalless drought before the end of the frame, putting a rebound that slid through Bobrovsky into the back of the net. Early in the second period, the Canes tied it. Teuvo Teravainen collected a loose puck in the slot to knot the game at two. Lomberg put Florida back in front midway into the frame, re-establishing their one-goal advantage.
As the clock slowly ticked away, the Canes' season was going with it. Jesper Fast didn't like that. With 3:22 left, he buried one, sending the teams on a collision course with a third overtime game. That didn't happen. The villain arc got its next chapter when Tkachuk scored with 4.3 seconds left in the game. He outwaited Andersen and finished the sweep. The Hurricanes were done for.
This was, by all accounts, one of the tightest sweeps we've ever seen. Rod Brind'Amour has long been clowned by fans online for saying that the Canes weren't really swept in this series. Objectively, that's false because Florida won in four games, but I understand the spirit of what he's saying. It didn't feel like a sweep, nor did the Canes deserve to be swept, hence why it ranks this high on my list.
It certainly didn't help that Sergei Bobrovsky played one of the best series of his life. He allowed just six goals on 174 shots, giving him a .966 save percentage and a 1.12 GAA. Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta, who started in Game 2, put up incredible numbers, too, but it's hard to win a series when you aren't getting support from your offense.
This is probably the most controversial take on this list because there's no reason that a sweep should be seen as the best series loss in team history. However, it's hard to deny the history that was made, both good and bad, and ignore the big moments, even if they were mostly in Florida's favor. I can see why people would disagree. The good news is that we get to start talking about winning now.
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