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Carolina Hurricanes

NHL, the National Hockey League is a premier professional North American Sports League played in indoor stadiums. It’s divided into two conferences, each comprising of three divisions of ice hockey teams. The league was established in 1917 in Montreal, Quebec and it is composed of 30 teams out of which 24 teams based in U.S. and 6 in Canada. They have a regular season and playoffs leading to the Stanley Cup, which is the NHL Championship final.

The Carolina Hurricanes are a professional ice hockey based in Raleigh, North Carolina. They play in the National Hockey League, NHL. In 2005-06, the Hurricanes won the franchise's first Stanley Cup, beating the Edmonton Oilers four-games-to-three.

In the Eastern Conference Final, the Hurricanes faced the Buffalo Sabres, who had finished just one spot behind the Canes in the overall standings. The Sabres squad was devastated by injuries in the series, at one point in the series playing without their top four defensemen in good health. The Hurricanes were defeated in the first game, as Buffalo took a 3-2 victory and the early lead in the series. In the second game, however, the Hurricanes recovered, defeating Buffalo 4-3.

Buffalo won game 3 by a score of 4-3 to take back the series lead, but Carolina tied it up again in game 4 with a 4-0 shutout, in which Gerber, who had relieved Ward the previous game, started in goal for the first time since game 2 of the first-round. Gerber's good luck would not extend to game 5, as after a shaky start, Ward was brought back in. Carolina took a 3-2 series lead by rallying and winning game 5, as Stillman scored an overtime goal to give the Canes the 4-3 win. In game 6 of the contentious series, the Hurricanes lost 2-1 to the Sabres in overtime, forcing a seventh-and-deciding game in the series. In game 7 the Hurricanes fell behind 2-1 in the second period but rallied with three goals in the third to win by a score of 4-2, due somewhat to Buffalo complacency. Rod Brind'Amour scored the game winner as the Hurricanes reached the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in team history. The 2006 Hurricanes were the third major professional team based in North Carolina to reach the championship round in their league.

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