Hurricanes Ready to Take a Swing at the Playoffs

"The guys had an extra step in their stride," says Hurricane's center Keith Primeau of this year's team. "The guys are feeling good about themselves, because last year we were packing our bags."

This will be the franchise's first playoff appearance in seven years and its first visit to the post season as the Carolina Hurricanes.

There are players here with playoff experience, including some who have won the Stanley Cup.

"A lot of things have to go right for you to win the Stanley Cup," says Paul Coffey, who won while playing for Edmonton. "First, you have to be relatively injury-free. Your good players have to play good for you, your role players have to play well for you and you have to have great goal tending."

"We've overcome quite a few obstacles this year," says Gary Roberts, who won the Stanley Cup while playing for Calgary. "You look at our travel, you look at being down four of five of our top defensemen twice this year. We've played some pretty good hockey and a lot of teams out there don't see the Hurricanes much, so maybe that's a good thing for us."

The playoff pundits in the media are not exactly anointed with the Hurricanes as Stanley Cup finalists. And yet the 'Canes veteran players know this club has what it takes to keep the golf clubs in storage for another month... or two.