Carolina Hurricanes: Five Things Driving Their Latest Playoff Push

It's amazing how far the Carolina Hurricanes have come this season.

Heading into the New Year, the 'Canes were last by far in the conference and looking like an utter disaster just one year removed from their conference finals run in 2009.

After a decently successful January in which the Hurricanes went 9-5, they had pulled themselves up a bit but were no longer in position to "earn" the No. 1 overall draft pick, which was about the only prize that appeared within reach at that point.

However, the Hurricanes have now become one of the hottest teams in the NHL since, and still have kept both mathematical and realistic hope that the playoffs are within their reach. Carolina has now won eight of their last nine (as well as 12 of their last 15) in a streak that began Friday, Feb. 5, in Buffalo.

Since that win, the 'Canes have roared to only eight points out of the postseason cut-off line with 17 games remaining in the regular season. However, the top eight is still quite a way off for 13th place Carolina, and it will take a very hot four-week stretch to qualify. To do that, they're going to need teamwork, hope, and, most importantly, the ability to keep up the pace they've been on for the last nine games over an even longer period.

So, with that said, if the Carolina Hurricanes want to make a playoff push, here are five things that are going to need to keep clicking that have been driving their latest hot streak at the moment.

Penalty Kill

The Hurricanes penalty kill has been on fire, and it's really beginning to pay dividends. Carolina has begun to build on their new discipline, allowing opponents only 30 power play opportunities in nine games, very good for a team that was among the league's worst three in that statistic for much of the year. They've now added a solid 16th-best PK to it, that has been almost unbeatable throughout the streak.

The number of goals allowed by the Hurricanes penalty kill in the last nine games—get those seat belts ready—currently stands at two. That's a 93.3 penalty kill average, which would be tops in the NHL by almost seven percent if it had been going out for the entire season. Carolina has also scored one shorthanded goal in that time period, averaging out the entire penalty kill to a minus-one rating.

Unbelievable.

Team Leaders Taking Control

Another thing pouring fuel into the Hurricanes' latest winning streak is the offense, which has been led by an interesting combination of forwards all year: superstar Eric Staal, veteran Ray Whitney, secret weapon & shootout specialist Jussi Jokinen, 21-year-old prospect Brandon Sutter, and, at times, [very] offensive defenseman Joni Pitkanen.

These players are the top five scorers for the season for Carolina, ranging from Jokinen with 53 points (third in the league in goals-to-shots percentage at 20.0%) to Pitkanen with 38 (with 33 assists), but they've also been the true spark in the Canes' attack through the past two weeks of actual NHL hockey.

Jokinen has been the biggest force, with goals in seven of the last nine games (two of which being game-winners) and 12 points combined sandwiched on both sides of an Olympic appearance with Finland.

Whitney has also recorded eight points, and Sutter nine total, including at least a point in six games in a row. Joni Pitkanen also has seven points from the back end, and speedster Sergei Samsanov has recorded six. Slumping former-captain Rod Brind'Amour also had two goals and a plus-three rating in his last three appearances.

Goaltending

While the offense has certainly picked up their pace too throughout the run, the goaltending is what has been and hopefully will continue to keep the Hurricanes rolling.

With usual starter Cam Ward out with a back injury in a game against Calgary on Feb. 3, the unusual but consistent duo of 23-year-old prospect Justin Peters and 39-year-old veteran Manny Legace have been manning the net with superiority. The two goalies have been alternating starts and racking up some of the best numbers possible, combining for a 94.2 save percentage, despite their extreme locations on the age scale.

Signed last fall when Ward went out for a month with a thigh laceration, well-travelled netminder Manny Legace has been perfect in his five starts on this latest hot streak. His .941 save percentage and goals-against average (GAA) just above 1.50 are as good as it gets, and he also earned the Hurricanes only shutout of the season last Sunday in a 4-0 win in Atlanta.

Prospect Justin Peters is 3-1 in four starts in the stretch, which are also his first four NHL starts of his career. Peters' numbers are worse than Legace's, but that's not saying much, considering his GAA is still at 1.76 and his save percentage at .943.

However, regardless of stats, both goalies have led their team and also managed to keep the puck out the net, a fairly difficult task considering the Hurricanes have been out-shot in over half of the nine games and three of the team's six defensemen over this period have not played more than 15 games for the Hurricanes this year.

Getting the Lead Early

While the offense has kept the puck in the net and the goaltending has kept the puck OUT of their's, it's also been fast jumps out of the gate that are keeping the Hurricanes rolling.

The Hurricanes have scored the first goal in seven of their last nine games, and they're undefeated in those seven matches. This is additionally coming from the team that has 14 regulation losses after scoring first, the most in the NHL. The two games that the opponent scored first are Carolina's only loss and Carolina's only win that took more than the 60 minutes of regulation.

Power Play

Not only have the Hurricanes done a good job getting power play opportunities, generating more man-advantages than their opponents in seven out of the nine games, but they're also converting on them. The Hurricanes have already notched three two-power-play-goal games on this run and have pulled their overall PP up to an average 18th in the NHL.