Rod Brind'Amour doesn't feel like the Carolina Hurricanes were swept by the Florida Panthers

Rod Brind'Amour doesn't think the Eastern Conference final should have been a sweep.

On Wednesday night, the Florida Panthers eliminated the Carolina Hurricanes in four games to advance to the Stanley Cup Final. It was a surprising result as not many fans thought it would be a sweep.

However, Brind'Amour believes the series was much closer than a sweep as he feels like every game could have gone the Hurricanes' way.

“That’s the unfortunate part of this is that we’re going to look back and everyone’s going to say you got swept and that’s not what happened,” Brind’Amour said. “I watched the game. I’m there. We’re in the game. We didn’t lose four games. We got beat but we were right there. This could have went the other way. It could have been four games the other way."

Hurricanes coach added:

"Tonight, the way it ended is tough, getting a penalty like that. That’s tough, especially with what was let go. That's going to sting. Not to take anything away from the other team because they played hard. I think we take huge steps this year, coming this far with what we were missing, is pretty impressive."

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Rod Brind'Amour frustrated with refs

As Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour said, he was frustrated with the penalty they called on Jordan Staal which set up the powerplay winner with five seconds left.

In Game 3, the refs missed an obvious high stick - which happened right in front of an official - with less than two minutes to go. Had that play been called, perhaps Carolina ties the game and forced OT in Game 3 and maybe win the game.

"The stick to the face, I thought he called," Brind'Amour said postgame. "He stopped the play. Whatever, that's not the difference. We've gotta get more than one, anyway. But that adds to the frustration in the game. No doubt about it, right? Especially when they stop the play. I don't understand that. You stop it because you saw a high stick. Why are you stopping the play then? I don't know. No explanation, just move on."

However, the refs didn't call it and in the end, the Florida Panthers did sweep the Carolina Hurricanes in four games in the Eastern Conference final.