As it turns out, the Carolina Hurricanes had no margin for error at all down the stretch. Wins for the Canes over the Philadelphia Flyers and for the Columbus Blue Jackets over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, coupled with a Penguins overtime loss to the Rangers, meant that the Canes hung onto the first wild-card spot by a single point, matching them up with the Washington Capitals in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The schedule, released by the NHL this morning, is below:
- Game 1: at WSH, Thursday, April 11, 7:30 p.