The Carolina Hurricanes did it. They finally did it. On Monday, the team defeated the Florida Panthers 3-0 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the first such victory for the franchise since Game 7 of the 2006 edition.
That year, Carolina went on to lift the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history. However, since then, they have been swept three consecutive times. They were on the precipice of being knocked out in the same exact fashion by the Panthers this year, after falling behind 0-3 and extending the losing streak to 15-straight games.
It's a significant monkey of the squad's back, considering head coach Rod Brind'Amour was the team's captain when it won the Stanley Cup in 2006 and again when the supposed curse began in 2009. But they now still have a huge hole to dig out of if they want to return to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since that fateful 2006 season.
Hurricanes avoid matching NHL-worst losing streak in the playoffs
Carolina's win clawed themselves back to a 3-1 deficit in the series. So it's unlikely a full on comeback is in the cards, but you never know. That being said, Hurricanes fans will probably just be happy their squad didn't wind up in the history books for their dreadful performances in this particular round.
Before Monday, Carolina owned the league's all-time second-longest losing streak in a single round of the playoffs. Only the Chicago Blackhawks had a worse span, losing 18 consecutive games in the Western Conference quarterfinals from 1975-80.
The St. Louis Blues famously lost 13 straight games in the Stanley Cup Final from 1968-2019 before eventually lifting the Cup that very year. The Los Angeles Kings lost 12 straight in the division final from 1982-90.
Now, Carolina fans will need their team to be just the fifth team in NHL history to successfully complete a series comeback after being down 3-0. They would join the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, 1975 New York Rangers, 2010 Philadelphia Flyers and 2014 Kings on that exclusive (and stressful) list.
If they do so, history could also be on their side. Of those four squads, two of them (1942 Maple Leafs and 2014 Kings) went on to win the Stanley Cup.