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Hurricanes look to maintain lead in Southeast

Mar 28, 2008 - 1:04 PM Atlanta (32-38-8) at Carolina (41-30-6) 7:00 pm EDT

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) - With the Washington Capitals in hot pursuit, the Carolina Hurricanes have no margin for error.

The Hurricanes will be looking to improve on their Southeast Division lead when they host the lowly Atlanta Thrashers on Friday.

Despite a record of 8-1-1 over the past 10 games, Carolina owns just a two point lead over the Washington Capitals (39-31-8) in the Southeast.

The division winner will likely be the No. 3 seed while the second-place club could end up missing the playoffs.

The Hurricanes' success over the last 10 games the result of an offense that has posted at least four goals in five contests, while outscoring the competition 33-14 in the eight victories. Eric Cole, Eric Staal and Scott Walker each have five goals during the span.

Veteran netminder Cam Ward is rounding into playoff form, allowing more than three goals just twice in his last 14 starts.

Carolina lost its last game in a shootout, falling 3-2 to the Capitals on Tuesday. Cole scored late in the third period to force overtime, but Ward failed to hold up in the third round of the shootout after stopping the first two chances.

The Thrashers only role at this point is to play spoiler, as they have already been eliminated from playoff competition.

They put a major dent in the Florida Panthers playoff hopes on Thursday with a 3-2 victory. Bobby Holik tallied twice in the contest and Kari Lehtonen, who has been one of the worst goaltenders in the league this season, stopped 43 shots.

The Hurricanes have dominated the series this season, owning a 5-1-1 advantage.