RALEIGH, N.C. _ The Carolina Hurricanes promised to fight to the end.
The Canes did. But the end did inevitably come Thursday.
The Boston Bruins finished off a sweep of the Canes in the Eastern Conference finals at PNC Arena, taking a 4-0 victory.
The Bruins won the fourth game much like they won the first three, with a spotless performance from goalie Tuukka Rask and a decided edge in special teams. Patrice Bergeron scored twice and had an assist, and David Pastrnak had a goal and two assists for the Bruins, who will face the San Jose Sharks or St. Louis Blues in the Stanley Cup final.
While the Canes continued to sputter on the power play and penalty kill, the Bruins scored twice in the second period as Pastrnak and Bergeron supplied the power-play goals. With a 2-0 lead after two, and Rask stopping everything the game was more or less decided, and Bergeron added an even-strength score and Brad Marchand an empty-netter in the third.
The game ended with Canes fans chanting "Let's go Canes!" and on their feet cheering their team.
The first Bruins score came after the Canes were called for too many men on the ice. The second came after the Canes' Greg McKegg made a strong power move to the net, only to have the puck tipped away and then smack into Rask for a goaltender interference penalty.
So it went for the Canes, whose first trip to the playoffs since 2009 produced a thrilling seven-game series win over the Washington Capitals and then a sweep of the New York Islanders.
But the Canes finished the conference finals 1 for 14 on the power play and 5 for 52 in the playoffs while the Bruins were 7 of 15 in the series. Crunch those numbers and it added up to a Bruins sweep.
The Bruins played Thursday without injured defenseman Zdeno Chara and fourth-line forward Chris Wagner, but didn't need them this night. Canes forward Jordan Martinook also missed another game with a lower-body injury.
For the Canes, it was a season to remember:
Rod Brind'Amour became a head coach for the first time and Justin Williams a captain for the first time. Once teammates on the Canes' 2006 Stanley Cup champions, the two old friends teamed up to provide just the right leadership.
There were new faces in different places _ defensemen Dougie Hamilton and Calvin de Haan, Martinook and forward Micheal Ferland among them. And two new goalies, Petr Mrazek and Curtis McElhinney, a waiver-wire pickup.
Sebastian Aho, despite some reluctance by Brind'Amour, was used at center all season became an NHL All-Star, scoring 30 goals.
Getting lucky in the NHL draft lottery, the Canes won the No. 2 overall pick for the 2018 draft and picked Russian forward Andrei Svechnikov, who was in the lineup at 18 could be a future All-Star in the making.
Who can forget the trade for Nino Niederreiter in January? The Minnesota Wild gave up on the Swiss forward and traded him for center Victor Rask.
The Storm Surge. The Canes players took a flying leap into the glass after their first home win and the postgame fun began _ a Thor strike, baseball homer, basketball dunk, you name it _ and was something discussed around the NHL.
Don Cherry talked about it. The Hockey Night in Canada mouthpiece disparaged the Surge, labeling the Canes a "bunch of jerks." The Canes, from owner Tom Dundon on down, all said "Thank you, sir" and started the marketing and merchandise sales
Finally, there was the New Jersey game on April 4, in the next-to-last game of the regular season. In the final seconds, with the Canes winning and the Montreal Canadiens losing in Washington, the PNC Arena crowd thundered an approval, the first playoff berth since 2009 secured.
There's work to be done in looking to next year. The power play was awful much of the season. The penalty kill can be better. Decisions need to be made on players due to become unrestricted free agents: McElhinney, Mrazek, Ferland, McKegg.
And Williams. Does the captain return? Don't rule it out.
