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The Hurricanes return to Raleigh for Wednesday’s NHL playoff game. Here’s what to know.
Jumping on the Canes bandwagon? Here are some storylines from the season.
The Carolina Hurricanes are back in the playoffs after a nine-year absence. If you’ve been away for a while, here are some of the storylines from the season that led to the Canes breaking the drought.
The Carolina Hurricanes are back in the playoffs after a nine-year absence. If you’ve been away for a while, here are some of the storylines from the season that led to the Canes breaking the drought.
RALEIGH
After escaping Brooklyn with two away wins over the New York Islanders last week, the Carolina Hurricanes return to PNC Arena on Wednesday to continue their quest for the Stanley Cup.
It’s the latest in the season the Canes have hosted a playoff game since 2009 — and the team’s surprising run so far has re-captivated the attention of longtime fans, recent transplants and bandwagon supporters alike.
Here are some things to know before Wednesday’s game:
The stakes
The Canes enter Wednesday’s game after scraping two hard-fought wins together in New York against the Islanders. The Canes need two more wins to clinch the best-of-seven, second-round series.
So far, the Canes have been exceptional at home in the playoffs, winning every game at PNC Arena in their upset of the favored Washington Capitals in the first round.
If that trend continues and the Canes defeat the Islanders, they would potentially play either the Boston Bruins or Columbus Blue Jackets in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals. The winner of that series would then go on to play the Western Conference champs in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup finals.
Parking and tailgating
Hurricanes fans, especially in the warmer, spring months, are prone to tailgate in the parking lot of PNC Arena before games. It’s something the fan base has in common with its next-door neighbors — N.C. State University’s football team.
The parking lot at PNC Arena will open at 1 p.m. Wednesday for those that want several hours to get mentally prepared for the showdown between the Canes and the Islanders. Empty parking spaces, however, cannot be used for tailgating space, according to PNC Arena.
For hockey games, parking costs $20 for cars and vans and $40 for buses, limos and mini-buses, according to PNC Arena’s website.
Game time
Doors to PNC Arena open at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The puck is expected to drop at 7 p.m. — but PNC Arena asks people to be in their seats by 6:30 p.m.
How much are tickets?
Wednesday’s game should be a sellout, though re-sale tickets are still available on Ticketmaster.
Prices will likely continue to fluctuate up until game time, but as of 3 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon, the cheapest ticket was $100 for the upper deck and the most expensive ticket was $805 for a rinkside seat.
How to watch
If you can’t make it to PNC Arena, the Hurricanes game will be shown on sports cable channel NBC Sports.
If you’d rather stream the game, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app also will be streaming the game — though to access those services you need to log in with a pay cable account or a live streaming service such as SlingTV or Youtube TV, among other services.
Recently, many fans have been taking to the Carolina Ale House on Glenwood Avenue in downtown Raleigh, where parts of the streets have been closed off for fans to gather and watch the game on a big screen.
However, those events are only being held for away playoff games, so there won’t be another one unless the Hurricanes lose one of the next two games or make it to the next round.