5 things to know about the Hurricanes

The Hurricanes set 1. franchise records in points (116) and wins (54) en route to the Metropolitan Division crown this season. Those marks surpassed the 2005-06 team, which racked up 112 points and 52 victories. That group won the Stanley Cup. The only team in the Eastern Conference with more points this year was the Panthers, who had 122.

Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce 2.

grew up in Tarrytown, the next town over from the Rangers’ practice facility in Greenburgh. Pesce, 27, attended Irvington High School and played on the joint Irvington-Sleepy Hollow hockey team and with the New Jersey Hitmen of the Eastern Junior Hockey League. He had 28 points (seven goals and 21 assists) and a plus-five rating this season.

As a player, Rod Brind’Amour led the

3.

Hurricanes to their lone Stanley Cup crown, captaining the 2005-06 team, and now he is hoping to win another crown as the team’s coach. Brind’Amour retired following the 2009-10 season and became an assistant coach with Carolina in 2011. He was named the head coach in 2018 and has led the Hurricanes to the playoffs in each of his first four seasons.

In 1997, the Hartford Whalers became

4. the Carolina Hurricanes, moving south from New England. The Whalers joined the NHL as part of the NHL–WHA merger of 1979 and had just three winning seasons. They won only one playoff series and were mockingly known as “The Forever .500s.”

After wins, Hurricane players

5. congregate at center ice for an Icelandic “SKOL” Viking clap that is called a “Storm Surge.” The team used to follow that with different celebrations, but have since simplified it.