RALEIGH, N.C. - Their game a mess, their confidence in tatters, the Bruins continued their shift-by-shift disintegration last night in a 4-1 loss to the Hurricanes, a defeat that delivered an all-but-fatal two-hander to their postseason.
"I try to keep from hating," said goalie Tim Thomas, peppered by 31 shots on the night, including 13 in the third period when the Canes blew apart a 1-1 game. "But it's certainly creeping in on me now, and I hope it is for the rest of my teammates."
A little bit of good, old-fashion enmity for the opposition could have been just the elixir for the Bruins earlier in the series. In fact, summoning some of it prior to last night's puck drop would have helped. But now it looks woefully too late to begin the hatin' game.
With their legs and willpower their most effective tools, the Canes have dominated the last three games, barely allowing the Bruins to break into the offensive zone in prolonged stretches, and then typically shooing them back out of the zone in the rare instances they are able to shape a semblance of an attack. The Canes have the 3-1 series lead, and in the history of the Stanley Cup playoffs, only 21 of 236 teams have battled back from such a deficit (failure rate: 91.1 percent) in a seven-game set.
"Our team," lamented Boston coach Claude Julien, "has picked the worst time of year to play their worst hockey . . . we are out of synch . . . you can see the frustration and it's getting worse."
As impressive as Boston was in the first round, smacking the Habs out in four straight, they have turned into a weak imitation of that confident and strong outfit. Along with lacking a compass to find the north end of the rink, they are unable to handle the Canes' speed, in part because they now lack two of their better-skating blue liners (Andrew Ference and Matt Hunwick).
The Canes aren't a great team, but they are fast, and that speed has the Bruins flustered. With quick taps of the puck deep in their zone, they time and again find ways to streak up the ice, catch the Boston defense flat-footed, and hammer shots on Thomas.
The best example last night came with 5:29 remaining, when ex-Bruin winger Sergei Samsonov, the Magical Muscovite, tap-danced around the offensive end and finished off with an artful backhanded roof shot from the top of the crease. He first blew around a twirling Dennis Wideman, then bolted to the cage ahead of Shane Hnidy (in for the injured Ference). It was the kill shot, a 3-1 lead delivered with emphasis, and reminiscent of practices long ago in Wilmington, Mass., when Samsonov would dazzle Boston teammates with his clever dekes and crafty hands.
"We have to find solutions," said Julien, who doesn't seem to have an answer to contain Carolina's No. 1 offensive force, Eric Staal, who popped in his eighth and ninth postseason goals last night. "It has to come from the coaches and it has to come from the players."
Outshot, 12-4, in the first period, the Bruins finally began to even out the territorial advantage midway through the second, gaining entry over their offensive blue line and holding the zone for chances. For the first 30 minutes, they barely cracked the offensive zone, and the few times they were in there, Carolina was quick to escape any pressure.
The first sign that things were beginning to turn, albeit briefly, came in the 12th minute of the middle period when the Bruins clicked for two shots, one a tip by Blake Wheeler and another a long Phil Kessel wrister, less than 20 seconds apart. Hardly a rapid-fire assault. But considering they were only the ninth and 10th Boston shots all night, a pair of shots so quickly provided a slight hint that perhaps the mellow yellow Bruins were emerging from their funk.
But not to be. Boston's third period was as bad, if not worse, than the first. Again, the shot spread was dramatic, 13-7 for the Canes, in a period when the Bruins needed to empty the drawer in hopes of avoiding what is now at hand - a 3-1 series deficit.
Yes, they are going home, but the change of venue isn't going to change a roster that definitely needs an upgrade to contend with the speedy, zigzagging Canes, who needed an end-of-season rush just to qualify for the playoffs. They then fended off the dastardly Devils in seven games, needing two goals in the final 1:20 of regulation to clinch Game 7. When they showed up in Boston in Game 1, they looked like their season flatlined with the win over New Jersey, only to snap back in Game 2 at the Garden and then race away here at home.
Carolina's goaltending? Sure, Cam Ward is good, but he was barely needed in the last two games. The Canes could have summoned Arturs Irbe from a Latvian beer league to handle the tepid Boston attack.
"Go home and figure it out, obviously," said Boston captain Zdeno Chara, searching for answers and optimism among the carnage. "We are in a deep hole, we are all realizing that."
Reality. A place to start, even if it has all the feeling of an unhappy, and unsatisfactory, ending.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at dupont@globe.com. 
