Are you kidding me?

As I type this, the Carolina Hurricanes are sitting at 14th in the Eastern Conference, with 55 points to their collective names. Those points were collected by going 24-30-7 so far on the year; not exactly the hottest start in NHL history.

But...

Da dum.

Over their last eleven games (really ever since Eric Staal was named captain, but let's focus on this sample size) the Hurricanes have outscored their opponents 41-23 and won nine times. The power play, long the bane of Carolina fans, has converted at a 23% clip (10 for 44) in those games while the penalty kill has allowed only three power play goals against in that span. Of their opponents, six of those eleven teams would be playoff-bound if the season were to end today, most notably the Central Division leading (and second in the Western Conference) Chicago Blackhawks. Also of note are two victories against the Buffalo Sabres (who led their division for most of the year until that second defeat which allowed the surging Ottawa Senators to take control) and a five-goal shelling of the New Jersey Devils that prompted Martin Brodeur to leave the game early in disgust. (To be fair, one of those was on the empty net, but that still left Brodeur with 4 goals on 22 shots, or a .818 save percentage.)

Has any one team chased Brodeur as many times as Carolina?

Nobody wants to be 'that guy' who is seen as jinxing a team, except for me I guess, because I'm going to come out and say it: It is not mathematically impossible for this Carolina team, the same one that's spent the majority of the season in the basement, to make the playoffs. The lowest point total to make the postseason in the East since the lockout was 92 (the Lightning in '06 and the Islanders in '07); the 'Canes currently have 55 with 21 games remaining. If they win all of those games, which is of course highly unlikely, they'd accumulate a total of 97 points.

Da dum da dum.

The margin for error here is, of course, very low, but bear with me. Of the games left to play, about half are against teams that are in playoff contention. If Carolina can keep up their pace, it's not inconceivable to suggest that they might win 15 or so of these games. Even so, that would put them at 85 points, which historical evidence shows probably would not be enough. Before damning them too quickly, consider this: there is no team in the NHL with an active winning streak longer than that of the Carolina Hurricanes. The Flyers, Bruins, and Canadiens, 6th through 8th place in the East respectively, are sitting at 67, 65, and 64 points at the Olympic break. Over an 82-game season, those teams are on pace for respective 92, 88, and 83 point campaigns. In fact, using all four teams' (Carolina, Philadelphia, Boston, and Montreal) last eleven games as a sample, we see that they are picking up points at a very similar percentage. Montreal has gone 5-5-1, picking up 50% of the possible points in that span. Boston's 4-4-3 record is also good for 50%, while Philadpelphia's 7-4-0 leads those three at 64%. Meanwhile, back in Raleigh, the Hurricanes have put together nine regulation wins and two regulation losses (9-2-0), acquiring 82% of that span's possible points.

Da dum da dum da dum

Now let's apply that total to the remaining games this season. Carolina has 21, Montreal has 19, and Boston and Philadelphia each have 22. If these streaks hold (all big "if"s, of course) the Canadiens and Bruins would earn 19 and 22 points respectively; that's easy math. Philadelphia would take home 28, while Carolina, if they keep pace, would net 34. Again, we're operating in the realm of the hypothetical here, but if these all hold true, the point totals for the current contending teams would shake out like this: Montreal- 83, Boston- 87, Philadelphia- 95. If you want your mind blown, scroll up a little and see what the season-long pace for these teams was. Talk about consistency. On the other hand, if Carolina continues picking up 82% of their available points for the rest of the year, those 34 points would have them looking at 89 points- not exactly a lock for postseason berth, but still more than two of the three teams they're chasing. A 15-2-4 record would get that done, not an impossible feat. Similar to this time last year, when fan and pundit alike had them written off, the Hurricanes are getting red hot at the right time.

Da dum da dum da dum da dum

This of course is not mathematical proof of Carolina's eventual redemption; anything could happen when NHL play resumes after the Olympics. It also doesn't really take into account the seemingly inevitable departure of free-agent-to-be Ray Whitney or what in the world might be going on with Cam Ward's ailing back. I do know one thing: Carolina plays Boston and Montreal two more times each this season. Those games seem a lot more interesting to me now than they did this morning.

Playoffs? You kidding me?