Hurricanes Nhl: Carolina Returns to Eastern Conference Final for Fourth Time
hurricanes nhl returns to the Eastern Conference Final on Thursday after 11 days off, and Carolina still does not know whether the Montreal Canadiens or Buffalo Sabres will be waiting. The Hurricanes reached this stage for the fourth time in eight seasons after sweeping the Philadelphia Flyers, but the past three conference-final trips ended with a 1-12 record.
Lenovo Center Awaits Thursday
The Eastern Conference Final starts at Lenovo Center at 8 p.m. ET, with the opponent to be set by Monday’s Game 7 between Montreal and Buffalo at 7:30 p.m. ET. Carolina finished its second-round sweep on May 9, so the layoff stretches to 11 days before the puck drops in Raleigh.
Jordan Staal said the group has learned enough hard lessons to know what the next round can bring. “We've seen a lot, this group,” he said. “The guys that have been here for a long time, and obviously, even the short ones still have seen enough.”
Staal And Aho Carry It Forward
Staal, Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, Jordan Martinook and Jaccob Slavin were all on the roster when Carolina was swept by Boston in the 2019 conference final. The Hurricanes also have 11 players left from the team swept by Florida in 2024, and 18 from last season’s group that lost in five games to the Panthers.
Aho was direct about whether that experience can help now. “You'd like to think so,” he said. “You gain confidence from your good stuff, but then you have to learn from maybe the mistakes or anything really. That's your whole career. You just try to be a better hockey player, so of course you try to use all the experience you have.”
Miller And Ehlers Add Depth
Carolina’s push also comes with two notable additions from July. K’Andre Miller arrived in a July 1, 2025 trade with the New York Rangers and signed an eight-year, $60 million contract, then posted six assists and a plus-9 rating in eight playoff games. Nikolaj Ehlers signed a six-year, $51 million deal as an unrestricted free agent on July 3, 2025 and produced two goals and two assists in seven playoff games while skating on a line with Staal and Martinook.
That combination gives Carolina a deeper roster than the one that lost the first three games to Florida last season by a combined 16-4 before winning Game 4 3-0, taking a 2-0 lead in Game 5, and then falling 5-3 to end the season. Florida is out of the playoffs this year because of injuries, and the Hurricanes now enter another third-round run with the same goal they have chased since 2006.
