Carolina Hurricanes welcome thousands to Monday's NHL playoff game as team seeks 2021 Stanley Cup

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes won their first division crown since the team won the Stanley Cup in 2006.

The Canes hope that fact and the admission of more fans into PNC Arena will help them accomplish their goal of hoisting the cup once again.

As many as 11,000 fans were allowed to watch the game in person. That comes after Gov. Roy Cooper lifted several COVID-19 restrictions Friday on the heels of new guidance from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

All of those fans were required to wear a mask while inside the arena. That is an NHL policy. Click here if you’re interested in buying tickets.

The Carolina Hurricanes have gone from being mired in a nearly decade-long playoff drought to a division champion armed with postseason experience and success.

Their first-round playoff series against the Nashville Predators offers the chance to maintain that upward trajectory – or suffer the first significant stumble of that three-season climb.

“I feel like everybody’s hunting each other,” said Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour, captain of the 2006 title winner. “That’s our mentality. That’s the way we have to play anyway.”

The Hurricanes made the Eastern Conference finals two years ago as an upstart in their first playoff appearance since 2009, then won a Stanley Cup qualifier series in last season’s restart following the COVID-19 shutdown.

This marks the first time they’ve reached three straight postseasons since the franchise relocated to North Carolina in 1997 from Hartford, Connecticut.

Nashville is in the postseason for the seventh straight season, including a trip to the 2017 Cup Final.

This year’s group extended that streak with a late-season surge after sitting 28th overall in the NHL standings as of late February, winning 20 of 28 to close the schedule.

“We’ve been more or less playing playoff hockey for the last two months because our playoff lives were on the line,” defenseman Ryan Ellis said.

That shows in the head-to-head record of both teams too. The Canes won the teams’ first six meetings but lost the final two.

Game one between the Hurricanes and the Predators starts at 8 p.m. It will be televised on CNBC.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.