RALEIGH - Coming out of the All-Star break, with 30 games left on the schedule, Carolina Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette made an honest, critical assessment of his team's playing chances.

"Out of those 30, we're probably going to have to win 20 to make the playoffs," Laviolette said on Jan. 24.

A win over the Florida Panthers on Friday in the season's final game would have been their 20th. Instead, after a 4-3 loss, the Hurricanes' fate is out of their hands, and their summer may await.

"We knew where we needed to be, and we were on that plane the whole time," Hurricanes forward Eric Staal said. "We had a few cracks at getting that 20th win but came up one short, and now it's up to other teams to falter for our fate. It looks that way. We just came up one short."

If Florida can beat the Washington Capitals in regulation tonight, the Canes would win the division, but the Capitals have won 10 of their past 11 and six in a row. With their first playoff berth since 2003 there for the taking, the Caps have everything on the line.

The Canes will literally be on the outside looking in tonight, and they could be on the outside looking in when the playoffs start Wednesday if the Capitals can get a point against the Panthers.

"It feels disgusting," Hurricanes forward Ray Whitney said. "We just needed to win two of our last four, and we go 1-3. We lose to Tampa Bay and Florida. The loss in Tampa Bay hurts now as much as this one. How we lost this one, not only is it frustrating, it hurts, you hate to sit back and hope you get help. ...

"We have to hope they do the same job tomorrow night. I doubt they will. Washington is taking care of business like it means something. It's frustrating we let this one slip away."

POWER PROBLEMS: The Hurricanes had all nine of the game's power plays and were not called for a single penalty, the first time that has happened since a 2-0 loss to the New York Islanders on Nov. 10, 1999.

While the Canes went 2-for-9, they failed to score on two separate five-on-three power plays totaling 2:45.

"It wasn't real smooth with the puck tonight, or as smooth as it has been, but certainly there were plenty of opportunities to score," Laviolette said. "We just couldn't seem to get the shots through or come up with the rebound, or they were just wide or blocked."

AWARD WINNERS: Bret Hedican won the Hurricanes' Steve Chiasson Award, which honors the memory of the late Hurricanes defenseman and is selected by the players.

Eric Staal was voted most valuable player, and Cam Ward won the "Good Guy Award" for media cooperation from the Carolina chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

TAILWINDS: The Hurricanes lost 337 man-games to injury this season, the most since the team moved to North Carolina in 1997. The previous high had been 290 in 2002-03. ... The Hurricanes finished 20th in the NHL in attendance, averaging 16,633 fans per game with eight sellouts. The team set franchise records last season with 17,387 fans per game and 19 sellouts.