Hurricanes eliminated from playoffs due to scoring woes

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The Carolina Hurricanes were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Florida Panthers with a 4-3 loss in Game 4 of the best-of-7 Eastern Conference Final on Wednesday.

Carolina (52-21-9) won the Metropolitan Division and reached the conference final for the first time since 2019 but failed to win a game against Florida, which was the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Each game in this series was decided by one goal.

The Hurricanes defeated the New York Islanders, the first wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference, in six games in the first round and defeated the New Jersey Devils, the second seed in the Metropolitan Division, in five games in the second round.

Carolina has qualified for the playoffs in five consecutive seasons following a nine-season drought, but has not reached the Stanley Cup Final since its 2006 championship, getting swept in the conference final in 2009 (Pittsburgh Penguins), 2019 (Boston Bruins) and this season.

The skinny

Potential unrestricted free agents: Jesper Fast, F; Ondrej Kase, F; Mackenzie MacEachern, F; Max Pacioretty, F; Jordan Staal, F; Paul Stastny, F; Derek Stepan, F; Calvin de Haan, D; Jake Gardiner, D; Shayne Gostisbehere, D; Frederik Andersen, G; Antti Raanta, G

Potential restricted free agents: Jesse Puljujarvi, F; Dylan Coghlan, D; Max Lajoie, D

Potential 2022 Draft picks: 9

RELATED: [Complete Hurricanes vs. Panthers series coverage]

Here are five reasons the Hurricanes were eliminated:

1. Sergei Bobrovsky

The Florida goalie wasn't the sole reason the Hurricanes didn't win the series, but he was the biggest one.

Bobrovsky stopped 132 of 135 shots during 13-plus periods of play in the first three games. That includes 63 saves in Florida's 3-2 quadruple overtime win in Game 1, 37 saves in a 2-1 overtime victory in Game 2 and 32 saves for his first NHL playoff shutout in a 1-0 win in Game 3.

Carolina finally broke through to score three times on 39 shots in Game 4 but lost when Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk scored the winning power-play goal with 4.9 seconds remaining in regulation.

2. Scoring depth disappeared

Carolina averaged 3.64 goals per game in the first two rounds, which was up from its regular-season average of 3.20 goals per game, despite missing top-six forwards Andrei Svechnikov (torn ACL) and Max Pacioretty (torn Achilles tendon). But it managed six goals against Florida, four at 5-on-5.

The Hurricanes didn't get a 5-on-5 goal from a forward until Game 4.

No player on the Hurricanes scored more than one goal against the Panthers. Martin Necas, who set NHL career-highs with 28 goals, 43 assists and a Hurricanes-leading 71 points during the regular season, had one assist. Sebastian Aho, who led Carolina with 36 goals during the regular season, had two assists in the series and went without a goal in his last six playoff games.

Forward Jordan Martinook, who tied Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers for most points in the second round with 10 (three goals, seven assists) in five games, didn't have a point before getting two assists in Game 4. Carolina led the NHL with 59 goals from defensemen during the regular season, including 18 each from Brent Burns and Brady Skjei, but got one against Florida, from Jalen Chatfield in the first period of Game 2.

3. Couldn't take advantage of surges

There were multiple stretches during the series when the Hurricanes controlled play and were limited to one goal or none when they could've taken control.

Carolina outshot Florida 14-2 in the third period of Game 1 but Stefan Noesen's power-play goal was their only success. The Hurricanes outshot the Panthers 17-1 in the opening 11:31 of Game 2 and had only Chatfield's goal.

It was more of the same in Game 3, when Carolina outshot Florida 14-5 in the second period and fell behind 1-0 on Sam Reinhart's power-play goal, and 11-2 in the third period and couldn't score. The Hurricanes did it again in the third period of Game 4, outshooting the Panthers 13-6, but managed only Jesper Fast's goal with 3:22 remaining to tie the score at 3-3 before Tkachuk scored the late game-winner.

4. Special teams

After scoring twice on the power play and killing off all three Panthers power plays in Game 1, the Hurricanes' special teams let them down in the final three games.

Carolina went 0-for-8 on the power play in Games 2-4, including 0-for-4 in Game 4. The Hurricanes' penalty kill, which was second in the NHL during the regular season at 84.4 percent and was 30-for-33 (90.9 percent) in the playoffs through the first two rounds, allowed four power-play goals on 11 chances (63.6 percent) in the final three games.

Florida scored the winning goal on the power play in each of the final three games.

5. Matthew Tkachuk

The Panthers forward had a hand in the winning goal in each of the four games. Tkachuk scored with 12.7 seconds left in the fourth overtime in Game 1 and then 1:51 into overtime in Game 2. He had the primary assist on Reinhart's winning power-play goal in Game 3 before scoring twice in Game 4, including the series-clinching goal.

Tkachuk had five points (four goals, one assist) to tie teammate Aleksander Barkov (two goals, three assists) for the Panthers scoring lead during the series.