Home Cooking: Of the Canes' remaining 21 games in the regular season, 13 will be played at PNC Arena, beginning with the team's longest homestand of the season that will see the Canes play eight straight games at home over a 15-day stretch. The Canes are 11-1-3 at home this season, a points percentage of .833 that ranks second in the NHL.
"It's great, I'll be honest with you. This year feels really weird. It feels like we've had a lot of road time," head coach Rod Brind'Amour said on Friday. "It's all about getting ready, but it's nice not being in hotels and stuff to refresh that way."
Managing the Load: With Thursday's game in Chicago, the Canes kicked off the final month-and-a-half of the regular season, during which the team is scheduled to play 22 games in 40 days, or one game every 1.82 days. It's going to be a grueling stretch run of the season, with the Canes still eyeing a first-place finish in the Central Division.
"We haven't practiced very much. We've had a lot of meetings virtually. That's our practice," Brind'Amour said. "It's not physically as demanding as people think. It's the mental stuff to get ready to play a game, a lot of mental energy that has to go in it. When you're at the rink every day grinding, that takes a toll. That's the stuff you have to manage."
