Crash Kills Carolina’s Chiasson

Hours after his team was eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs, Carolina Hurricane defenseman Steve Chiasson, 32, was killed when his pickup truck flipped on a dark, lonely road.

He was found early Monday morning in north Raleigh, and the State Highway Patrol says he might have been speeding after drinking alcohol.

The truck rolled and ejected Chiasson, who was not wearing a seat belt and had been driving alone, investigators said. Weather was not a factor and no other vehicles were believed to have been involved.

Hours earlier in Boston, the Bruins ended the Hurricanes’ season with a 2-0 victory in Game 6. On Friday night, Chiasson scored the first goal in a 4-3 double-overtime loss to the Bruins.

“When you get on the plane, you’re pretty disappointed,” said team spokesman Chris Brown, fighting tears. “We lost a playoff series, but you figure out that it doesn’t really matter. You get a dose of reality.”

Brown said two cases of beer and water, sports drinks, milk and vegetable juice were served on the team’s charter flight to Raleigh.

He didn’t know how much beer, if any, Chiasson drank. After the plane landed about 1 a.m., the players got into their vehicles and left.

Chiasson spent eight years with the Detroit Red Wings, was traded to the Calgary Flames in 1994 and in 1997 to what then was the Hartford Whalers.