Carolina Hurricanes: Keys to Keep Rolling vs. Chicago

The Carolina Hurricanes return home this evening to host the Chicago Blackhawks. The Canes come into tonight’s matchup having won their last three games. The Blackhawks, on the other hand, have lost their last four games heading into tonight’s contest and face mathematical elimination from the playoffs with a regulation loss.

The race for the 4th spot in the Discover Central Division is heating up, and Chicago have found themselves all but out of it at this point.

The Blackhawks have 50 points in the standings – 5 behind the 5th place Dallas Stars, and 8 behind the 4th place Nashville Predators, whom they have a single game in hand against.

The Carolina Hurricanes, as we all know, have long since clinched their playoff spot, and punched their ticket to the 2020-21 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. This does not mean, however, that the Canes will be letting up anytime soon.

The 1st seed in the Discover Central Division is a highly coveted prize; whoever snags it will face the 4th seed in the first round, so one of Nashville, Dallas, or (most unlikely of the bunch) Chicago. The 2nd and 3rd seeds will face each other in the first round; this will include at least one of Florida or Tampa Bay, both very good teams that stand a solid chance of besting the Canes in a best-of-7 series.

Nonetheless, tonight’s game should be a fun watch; goaltending phenom Alex Nedeljkovic will be starting, the Carolina Hurricanes are almost  back at full strength, and they are hungry for any and all points left on the table.