The Hurricanes dropped Game 6 at home, ending their season.

Stunningly, the Carolina Hurricanes were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Thursday night following a 5-3 loss to the New York Rangers in Game 6 of the second round. The Hurricanes carried a 3-1 lead into the third period before surrendering four goals in the final 13 minutes and 17 seconds of the game, three coming off the stick of Rangers forward Chris Kreider.

It was a devastating end to another promising season for Carolina. One of the best regular season teams of recent years once again fell before the Stanley Cup Final. Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour tried to sum things up after watching his team’s season end in heartbreaking fashion.

“It’s a special group in there. This is a tough way to end a really good year,” Brind’Amour said, per Peter Baugh. “These guys played their butts off all year, but this is what you’re going to remember. That’s the hard part.”

The Hurricanes opened the scoring and had separate two-goal leads throughout the game. The Rangers briefly cut into a 2-0 deficit before the Hurricanes made it 3-1 halfway through the second period.

Carolina had no answers for New York in the third period and despite peppering Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin with 15 shots on goal, the Hurricanes were unable to put one past him. Carolina outshot New York 36-24 in the game.

Are big changes coming for the Hurricanes?

Everything about the way the season ended for the Hurricanes is tough to swallow. Blowing a multi-goal lead in an elimination game at home is something that can stick with a franchise throughout the offseason. Carolina has to put another disappointing end behind and get back to the drawing board for next season.

The Hurricanes have finished with a top-three regular season record in each of the last three seasons. They’ve failed to win a game past the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, getting swept in their only trip to the Eastern Conference Final in that span.

At the end of the day, a franchise is defined by its postseason success. The Hurricanes are a wagon of a team in the regular season but cannot get over the hump in the playoffs with several years worth of anguish to show for it.

Carolina’s immediate future is fascinating to think about. On paper, there aren’t many changes that can be made to ensure the Hurricanes are a better team next season. Even if they did make significant additions to the roster, there are no guarantees in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Moving to the top of the standings and earning home-ice advantage throughout the postseason isn’t enough to book a place in the Stanley Cup Final.

Does bringing in a new coach make sense? Looking at the numbers, it’d be hard to justify letting Rod Brind’Amour leave for another job, but stranger things have happened. Brind’Amour is without a contract at the end of June and would have teams clamoring for his services if he was made available.

In all likelihood, the Hurricanes will extend Brind’Amour’s contract and roll out mostly the same team next season hoping this group can just figure it out in the playoffs. Maybe that’s not the wisest thing to do, but fans would likely prefer that over blowing the roster up.

Regardless, it will be an important offseason for the Carolina Hurricanes.