Everything might finally be lining up for the Hurricanes

The Carolina Hurricanes have played five games this postseason, and they have won all of them fairly decisively. Not only are they still perfect after Saturday's 3-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 1 of their second-round series, but they have also yet to trail for a single minute in any of their games. 

By doing so, they are the first team since the 1986 Washington Capitals to not trail for a single second in their first five playoff games.

It was another impressive win on Saturday, and another sign that maybe things are finally falling into place for this core to break through and reach the Stanley Cup Final.

Everything is coming together for the Carolina Hurricanes this postseason

The Hurricanes are no strangers to the playoffs and are certainly familiar with going on deep runs. They have won at least one round in seven of the past eight seasons, including a couple of trips to the Eastern Conference Final. Going back to the start of the 2018-19 playoffs, Carolina's 52 playoff wins are the sixth-most in the NHL, making them one of just eight teams to have at least 40 playoff wins during that stretch.

They are also the only one of those eight teams that has not played in a single Stanley Cup Final in that time.

They win a lot.

They keep getting close.

They keep falling just short. 

But when you look at the rest of the Eastern Conference playoff field this season, the type of teams that have beaten them in so many second-and third-round series over the years are not really there this time to stand in their way 

Even though the Flyers should be able to give them a better fight than they showed on Saturday, Carolina is clearly the superior team on paper with more scoring depth. All of that was on display on Saturday. 

Assuming they get through this, they would have either the Buffalo Sabres, Montreal Canadiens or Tampa Bay Lightning (Montreal and Tampa Bay play a Game 7 on Sunday to see who advances to the second round) in the Eastern Conference Final. Given the construction of those teams and their current make-up, Carolina should have the upper hand in any of them. 

Especially now that they seem to have more impact goal-scorers in their lineup. A lack of goal-scoring against the top teams in the later rounds has been one of the common denominators in Carolina's recent playoff losses. But the addition of Nikolaj Ehlers this season has been massive, as has a full season of Logan Stankoven.

Carolina acquired Stankoven at last year's trade deadline in the Mikko Rantanen saga, and he has been one of the Hurricanes' best players through the first five games of these playoffs. His two goals on Saturday already give him six for the playoffs, while he has also been a dominant possession-driver. 

It is an incredibly deep team with almost no weaknesses. They are getting excellent goaltending. They have found more finishers up front to help turn their territorial dominance into goal-scoring dominance. The playoff field and the matchups around them are going in their favor. 

There is still a long way to go, but this is starting to look like it might be their year. If it is not, it will be worth asking when it ever will be.