The Carolina Hurricanes have suffered three humbling defeats in the first three games of the Eastern Confernece finals against the Florida Panthers, and coach Rod Brind'Amour didn't try to mask his frustrations with his team's disappointing showings after Saturday's Game 3 blowout.

Speaking to reporters after the 6–2 defeat, Brind'Amour flatly called out Carolina's star players, making clear that they haven't been living up to expectations in the series.

"Just bad decision making, and the four rookies in the lineup can't be some of your better players. Like that can't happen. There's a couple guys in there that I don't think came to play the way they needed to in this time of year. It can't be Jordan Staal and [Jordan] Martinook being our best players. That can't always be that way, and they are every night. So we needed more out of some guys," Brind'Amour said when asked about the team's struggles in the series.

Carolina's stars have largely vanished in the series. Sebastian Aho has two points in three games, but is still a -2 in the series, while Andrei Svechnikov, who had eight goals through the first two series of the postseason, has yet to score and has just one assist. Dmitry Orlov had a particularly tough game on Saturday, finishing the night with a -4 and playing a role in at least two of Florida's six goals.

Brind'Amour didn't mince words when acknowledging the team hasn't received the level of production from its star players that one would expect, and he didn't seem too confident about the team's chances of turning things around.

The Hurricanes haven't won a game in the Eastern Conference finals since 2006, when they won the Stanley Cup. They've been swept in each of their last three trips to the conference finals, and are at risk of making it four straight series sweeps if they can't get their act together on Monday night.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Rod Brind'Amour Rips into Hurricanes Stars After Ugly Game 3 Loss to Panthers.

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