'Cane-do attitude? Reigning champs close to missing playoffs

Updated March 6

With only a month left in the regular season, the reigning Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes are in danger of missing the playoffs. And their coach Peter Laviolette isn't necessarily shocked by his team's change in fortune.

Rod Brind'Amour and Carolina are in danger of missing the playoffs. (Getty Images)

"If you had told me we'd be in battle with our conference to win hockey games and to make the playoffs, it wouldn't have dropped my jaw. There's a lot of parity now," said Laviolette, whose Hurricanes are now clinging to the final playoff seed in the East, but have five teams within six points of them.

"Even after the deadline, everyone is finding out no matter where you sit in the standings, you'll get one tough game whether it's Florida or Boston who have worked their way back in, or Philadelphia. There are no layups, no easy games."

Not for a defending champion, anyway. Carolina has had some serious injury problems this season and that has made consistency an issue, but as Laviolette noted, the Hurricanes have seen other teams' starting goalies and "A" games a lot more often this season as well.

"On given nights there has been a complacency that has been evident. We have not had the same drive, energy and quickness to our game that we did last year," Laviolette said. "But last year we may have been taken lighter at the beginning to the midway point. Now we get everybody's best. If we're not dead on, it's tough."

So is the fight to reach the postseason. Carolina has 73 points and 14 games remaining, yet all but one of the five teams the Hurricanes are fighting with for the eighth spot have more games to play.

"Our players are aware of where we sit and they don't take for granted that they will make the playoffs, but they're going to keep on fighting," Laviolette said. "We've had a lot of adversity, but we're still in the hunt."

Here are this week's Power Rankings:

Power Rankings
Current		Team	Previous
	1	Bruins · Trends	1
	Boston hit its stride early and rarely stumbled under the smart coaching of Claude Julien. The Bruins can score and enter the playoffs as the only team with fewer than 200 goals allowed.
	2	Sharks · Trends	2
	A first Presidents' Trophy will only mean something to the league's best home team if it turns out to be a stepping stone for a first deep playoff run.
	3	Red Wings · Trends	3
	Detroit often looked like the reigning Cup champs this season, but not lately. Maybe they can flip the switch, but both goalies have sub-.900 save percentages.
	4	Penguins · Trends	7
	Everything about Pittsburgh's season before the coaching change and the deadline acquisitions is irrelevant. These Penguins are a fine-tuned version of last spring's Stanley Cup finalists.
	5	Capitals · Trends	4
	Ovechkin and company will have to provide enough fireworks to overcome a defense that is vulnerable. Can a team run and gun its way to a Stanley Cup in this day and age?
	6	Canucks · Trends	10
	No one out West has played better over the past few months than the Canucks, who will ride a very hot Roberto Luongo into the playoffs. Vancouver won the Northwest after being 13 points back in January.
	7	Blackhawks · Trends	8
	Nikolai Khabibulin is playing like someone in his contract year should and the kids are alright again after going through a rough stretch last month. Starting the playoffs at home is a bonus.
	8	Ducks · Trends	6
	A strong finish got them to the playoffs, and with Francois Beauchemin back, they've got the best blue line in the business. This is the dark-horse team in the West.
	9	Hurricanes · Trends	5
	A sloppy finish cost Carolina a shot at the fourth seed, but the Hurricanes' late-season surge wasn't a fluke and Cam Ward is playing like a Conn Smythe winner again.
	10	Flyers · Trends	11
	At one point this season, the Flyers had a 13-1-3 stretch, but they've been a .500 team since the trade deadline. So they're an enigma heading to the playoffs, a team that could get to the Finals or get bounced in Round 1.
	11	Devils · Trends	9
	The wheels seemed to come off after Martin Brodeur set his wins record in March. A couple of meaningless late wins won't convince anyone the Devils have fixed things.
	12	Blue Jackets · Trends	14
	They have the league's worst power play and allowed more goals than they scored, yet the Jackets still found a way into the playoffs because rookie sensation Steve Mason always gives them a chance to win.
	13	Rangers · Trends	18
	The Rangers earned their playoff spot by winning the games they had to, mainly because Henrik Lundqvist came up very big. But he'll need help for New York to make any kind of run.
	14	Blues · Trends	15
	The Blues officially claimed the feel-good story of the year title last week by grabbing a playoff spot with their roster full of fuzzy-faced kids. St. Louis could be dangerous playing without the pressure of expectations.
	15	Flames · Trends	13
	The impact of Calgary's implosion hasn't muted because the Flames are in the playoffs. But the Flames have been borderline awful for the past six weeks and they are pretty banged up heading into the playoffs.
	16	Canadiens · Trends	12
	Montreal backed into the playoffs last week, which temporarily saved the organization from another major embarrassment in a season that has already gone down in flames.
	17	Sabres · Trends	19
	A second consecutive season without the playoffs. Buffalo was competitive but was done in by Ryan Miller's untimely injury.
	18	Panthers · Trends	17
	Much progress this season under rookie coach Peter DeBoer, but not enough to overcome a punchless offense and too many bad goals against Tomas Vokoun.
	19	Wild · Trends	20
	Things would have probably been different had Marian Gaborik been there all season. At least Minnesota got an idea about what it will be like next season.
	20	Predators · Trends	16
	The Predators stayed in the playoff race longer than they should have and seemed to have set themselves up in goal for the next few seasons with Pekka Rinne.
	21	Oilers · Trends	21
	Edmonton placed a lot of hope -- probably too much -- on several young players and it backfired this season. Long-time coach Craig MacTavish could pay the price.
	22	Senators · Trends	23
	Here is a microcosm of how Ottawa's season went: Sniper Dany Heatley scored four times in his first three games, stayed healthy and still finished one shy of a fourth straight 40-goal season.
	23	Thrashers · Trends	22
	A strong finish and some good young pieces give the Thrashers some hope, although that's getting a bid old for a franchise that has been in only four playoff games.
	24	Kings · Trends	25
	Their development process got a lot further than expected this season and the Kings have the cap space to add big pieces over this summer. They could produce a quick turnaround next year.
	25	Coyotes · Trends	26
	Can we say Phoenix took a step forward this season? Not really, but the bigger concern surrounds the team's future in the desert.
	26	Stars · Trends	24
	Too many key injuries to deal with, especially in a season that had off-ice distractions and Marty Turco far from his best.
	27	Maple Leafs · Trends	27
	Now that the season is over the Brian Burke era will really begin.
	28	Lightning · Trends	28
	All kinds of questions for the Bolts heading into the summer, but the biggest is whether Vincent Lecavalier will be back.
	29	Avalanche · Trends	29
	All signs are pointing to Patrick Roy becoming coach of the Avs after their worst season in Colorado.
	30	Islanders · Trends	30
	The prize for an awful season will come at the draft when New York gets either John Tavares or Victor Hedman.