Stanley Cup Playoffs postcard: Tailgating with Hurricanes fans in Raleigh

Throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs, NHL.com writers will be sending postcards from the eight first-round series. Today, senior director of editorial Shawn Roarke checks in from Raleigh, North Carolina:

Greetings from Caniac Country!

It’s time to Cause Chaos. That’s the theme of the Carolina Hurricanes for the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, which began with Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the New York Islanders on Saturday.

Despite the threat of a significant thunderstorm an hour before the game, the locals were out in force on a 75-degree day outside PNC Arena, which has become legendary for its tailgate scene.

Radios were blaring, many playing “Rock You Like a Hurricane” by Scorpions, the unofficial theme song of this team. Makeshift hockey rinks and corn hole setups were scattered across the blacktops. Hurricanes flags fluttered, and the smell of barbecue spread on the light breeze.

Everywhere you turned, somebody was in a Hurricanes jersey, the gamut being run from Ron Francis, the iconic forward for this franchise, to glory-days role player Josef Vasicek (who died in a plane crash involving his Russian team in 2011) to Seth Jarvis, the latest power-forward sensation.

There were some Islanders fans in blue-and-orange jerseys in the parking lots, but they were outnumbered. Yet, everyone was having fun, filled with the optimism only the start of the postseason can bring.

Wish you were here.

All the best,

Shawn