The Carolina Hurricanes return home with a chance to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in two decades, after a 4-0 road victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night.
“You can’t come to a game and not just feel the excitement,” said Hurricanes fan Denise Lingenfelser.
Carolina has a sellout streak dating to 2023 and has had the best home record in the NHL during the past two seasons.
“I keep feeling this is the year (the Cup) is going to come back,” Lingenfelser said.
“Watching their style of play, it’s an old school style of hockey. The aggressiveness has been fun to watch,” added Felipe Alzamora, who stopped by the Carolina Pro Shop on Thursday.
The Hurricanes have made the playoffs for eight consecutive seasons, the longest streak in franchise history, and are behind only the Colorado Avalanche and Tampa Bay Lightning in terms of active streaks across the league.
The 2026 Stanley Cup Final will start either June 2 or June 4: pic.twitter.com/wOIn4sJvPP
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) May 28, 2026
“I definitely think that there’s huge excitement because of how they’ve been performing the last eight seasons,” said fan Corbin Smith. “I think Rod Brind’Amour being our head coach is huge, too. He obviously was a part of the Cup in (2006), so it’s important now that he’s our head coach.”
After dropping Game 1 of the series, the Canes have rattled off three straight wins, including overtime victories in Game 2 and Game 3.
“They roll all four lines. They have tremendous defensive pairings. (Frederik) Andersen is truly on his game in goal,” said fan Nelson Dollar. “They have all of the elements that you have to have in order to have a winning hockey program.”
“A lot of the players that we’ve had for so long have been working really hard and hopefully are going to get the Cup for us,” said Smith.
The team’s success has also brought attention to its unique culture.
“Southern teams tend to bring their college traditions, so they bring their tailgating, they bring their enthusiasm,” Dollar said. “They bring their year-round commitment to the team, and that has now been adopted by the Carolina Hurricanes.”
“We’ve watched hockey come down here and then be a part of us, but it took a while for it to grow. I (had) never watched hockey until the Canes came down here and started this establishment, so it’s just taken a while for it to grow. But you can’t be around it and not feel it, and I think that’s why it’s such a huge fanbase now,” Lingenfelser said.
Michael Malloy, better known on social media as “Carolina MiC“, has been creating videos backing the Canes throughout this playoff run.
“Once I saw the energy from the fan base and from the team and how Lenovo Center just goes berserk, it was hard not to want to do something for the fans,” Malloy said.
He said fans have been reaching out for Hurricane video requests.
“I couldn’t have written a movie or planned a script of what’s going on right now,” he added.
Game 5 is Friday night at 8 at the Lenovo Center.