Cary, NC – The Carolina Hurricanes’ season ended with a 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins as the Bruins swept the Canes in the Eastern Conference Championship. At the end of December the Canes were the 15th out of 16 teams in the east with everyone outside of the greater Raleigh area saying this would be their 10th consecutive season missing the playoffs. Read more
Cary, NC – Coach Rod Brind’Amour changed every line and also changed the goalie, and while the first period was their best of this series against the Boston Bruins, they couldn’t keep that level of play throughout the game and dropped its first home game of the playoffs with a 2-1 loss. Read more
Cary, NC – For the first time in franchise history, the Carolina Hurricanes won a four-game sweep in the playoffs, with a solid, team effort 5-2 win over the New York Islanders in front of a record PNC Arena crowd of 19,495 crazed Caniacs. They did win a three-game sweep back in the Whalers days when the first round was best three out of five. This was also the first time in decades when a team that swept one round got swept in the next round. Read more
Cary, NC – The Carolina Hurricanes took one big step to getting to the Conference finals with a 5-2 win over the NY Islanders in front of over 19,000 at the loudest house in the NHL, the PNC Arena. The game was much tighter than the score as the Canes scored two late open net goals.
Washington, DC –Mr. Game 7, aka Justin Williams, had another huge Game 7 when with just over 11 minutes gone, he won a battle along the boards and just flung the puck to the net hoping for the best. Brock McGinn muscled in for a position in front of the net and tapped in the overtime game winner to send the Hurricanes to Round Two against the Islanders. It was the second game in a row the Canes came from behind and first game in this series the home team did not win. Read more
Cary, NC – For the first time in this head-to-head series, the home team did not score the first goal that also led to the home team winning the game but the Canes answered in a resounding manner, typical of the playing days of coach Rod Brind’Amour, with a 5-2 win over the Washington Capitals. Read more
Cary, NC – It took all of 17 seconds for the Bunch of Jerks to get the all-important first goal on a great tic-tac-toe play ending with Warren Foegele slapping in the first shot of the game off a phenomenal pass from Jaccob Slavin. So far, each team that has scored the first goal has gone on to win as both teams also had impressive records during the regular season for a win after scoring the initial goal.
Cary, NC – The Bunch of Jerks, aka the Carolina Hurricanesm played as perfect of a game as any team could and thumped the defending Washington Capitals 5-0 in front of an electric arena that hasn’t had this much excitement in years. The Canes knew the importance of this game as they were down 2 games to 0 in the best of 7 series and the chance of winning a series going down by 3 games is rarely done.
Cary, NC – Back in September, after just being announced as captain, Justin Williams made the statement that this team would make the playoffs as nothing less would be acceptable and making the playoffs was a process to win the Stanley Cup. His simple logic was: if you don’t get in the playoffs, you don’t have any chance of winning the Cup, and as he said, “that’s the ultimate goal and anything less is not what this team is about.”
After another stellar performance by Petr Mrazek, the Canes made good on Willie’s first promise by defeating the New Jersey Devils, 3-1 in front of a playoff-like loud crowd. The Canes did have some help as the Canadiens lost to the Capitals, allowing the Canes to have enough points even if they lose their last game. Which Willie would predict won’t happen. Read more
Cary, NC – This game meant so much for both teams for making the playoffs: the Canes needed the two points to ensure they stay in the top Wildcard spot; for the Flyers, if they lose, their playoff hopes are extinguished.
The parking lot had the tailgaters grilling and enjoying the perfect afternoon, with fans from both teams having a good time predicting the outcome. After falling behind on an early Claude Giroux goal, the Canes responded with a solid 5-2 win in front of a nearly sellout crowd.