RALEIGH, N.C. _ Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour always talks about his players not taking a breath on the ice during a game.
That is, keep their focus, every shift, start to finish.
But the Canes, a day after the NHL trade deadline, looked like a team that had taken a big gulp of refreshing air, racing past the Los Angeles Kings, 6-1, on Tuesday at PNC Arena.
The Canes took a pass on deadline day, with general manager Don Waddell and Brind'Amour both expressing confidence in keeping the "group" intact. The Canes have not been a part of the Stanley Cup playoffs since 2009, but the sense was this team, this year, is good enough and playing well enough to end that playoff drought.
They looked the part against the Kings. Defenseman Dougie Hamilton led the onslaught with two goals and an assist, Teuvo Teravainen had a goal and three assists and Jordan Staal three assists for the Canes (34-23-6).
That made for a mostly stress-free night for goalie Petr Mrazek, who earned his 15th win of the season as Mrazek and Curtis McElhinney continue to give the Canes quality starts in net. The Kings' Dustin Brown ended Mrazek's shutout bid with 7:58 left in the third.
Carolina, 19-6-1 in their last 26 games, went into the game holding the second wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. But two of the teams the Canes are battling for playoff position _ the Columbus Blue Jackets and Pittsburgh Penguins _ were playing each other Tuesday.
The biggest concern for the Canes this night was a pair of injuries _ forward Micheal Ferland and defenseman Justin Faulk both leaving the game with upper-body issues. Ferland was hurt trying to leap over Kings goalie Jonathan Quick on the Canes' sixth goal.
Ferland, who had a goal and assist before the injury, was the source of much trade speculation before Monday and appeared relaxed and relieved Tuesday at the Canes' morning skate.
"I'm excited," he said. "I've said from day one that I wanted to be here. I'm so happy I didn't get moved and I can stay here for this playoff push."
The Canes led 2-0 after the first, Hamilton scoring at the end of an odd sequence and then Sebastian Aho with a quick burst of speed and quick release on his shot.
On Hamilton's goal, Canes forward Saku Maenalanen was pushed into Quick near the post by defenseman Dion Phaneuf. Quick lost his stick behind the net, then tried to crawl back into the crease, but Hamilton had an easy score.
The goals came quickly in the second period. Ferland redirected a shot by Staal. Jaccob Slavin ripped a shot on a power play and Teravainen on a shot from the right circle.
Hamilton's second goal, his 12th of the season, made it 6-0 and resulted in a tweet that asked if the Canes ever held a "Storm Surge" celebration after two periods.
The Kings (23-33-7) have lost nine straight games and were at the end of a four-game road trip. They may have been ready to leave after two periods. Jack Campbell replaced Quick in the third.
Aho had gone 10 games without a goal while centering the Canes top line. He has 70 points for the season, the first Canes player to reach 70 since Eric Staal in 2011-12.
