The Carolina Hurricanes have three regular-season home games left in Raleigh before the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin April 18.

Why it matters: For the eighth straight year, the Canes are poised to make a run.

What they're saying: The Canes play aggressively and shoot often, a style opponents have called "suffocating."

• The Hockey News said the current roster is one of the deepest in years, and that shot selection has improved. "The Hurricanes have 12 players who have reached double-digit goals this year, the most by any team in the league."
• And lately, the power play has been "red hot," with the Canes scoring on a quarter of all power play opportunities.

By the numbers: For only the fifth time in franchise history, the Canes have reached 100 points on the season. They are currently averaging nearly 3.5 goals per game.

• The overall points leader is Sebastian Aho. He leads the team in assists, with 50, and also has 25 goals.
• Seth Jarvis has the most goals, with 30, his third straight year reaching that milestone.

The intrigue: A strong new goalie has emerged in Brandon Bussi, who was picked up on waivers but played his way into a three-year contract.

• Bussi has already won more games this season than veteran Frederik Andersen and backup Pyotr Kochetkov combined.

The big picture: Even though the Hurricanes have made the playoffs each of the past seven years under head coach Rod Brind'Amour, fans are frustrated that the team keeps flaming out early.

• Carolina hasn't reached the Stanley Cup Finals since winning it all 20 years ago.
• Three times, including last season, the Canes lost in the Eastern Conference Finals. In the other four seasons, the team was eliminated in the first or second round.

The bottom line: Caniacs are hoping this season, Brind'Amour can finally bring the Cup back to Raleigh.

🎟️ What's next: Ticket prices get a lot more expensive in the postseason, so now's a good time to see the Canes in action. All three home opponents remaining are potential playoff teams.

• Thursday, April 2: Columbus Blue Jackets at 7pm ($54 and up)
• Saturday, April 4: New York Islanders at 7pm ($64 and up)
• Tuesday, April 7: Boston Bruins at 7pm ($71 and up)

Keep reading about the playoff prospects

Hillsborough Street in downtown Raleigh is poised for even more construction.

Why it matters: The 500 block of Hillsborough Street was recently razed by the Washington, D.C.-based developer Dalian Development, which has eyed the location for residential apartments for years.

• Previously, the block was filled with several low-slung buildings that housed businesses like Montgomery Violins.

The big picture: That section of Hillsborough Street has seen a wave of new developments in recent years, as developers have tried to fill in the gap between the Glenwood South district and the State Capitol.

• Notable projects include the Pendo tower, the 400H tower, the Bloc[83] office buildings and the renovation of the circular Holiday Inn hotel.

Zoom in: What exactly Dalian plans to build remains to be seen, however. Officials with the company did not respond to a request for comment.

• Site plans approved by the city in 2022 call for an eight-story building with more than 200 apartment units and 10,000 square feet of commercial space. Dalian refers to those plans as "currently under development" on its website.
• However, in 2023, Dalian won a rezoning from the city that would allow it to build up to 40 stories on the site.

🎶 While opera companies have struggled across the country in the years after the pandemic, the N.C. Opera's recent rendition of "Madame Butterly" was its best-selling show ever. (The Assembly)

🍽️ The University Club of Durham, a private dining restaurant on the 17th floor of University Tower, has closed and filed for bankruptcy. (Triangle Business Journal 🔒)

🍷 A new wine bar called Vino & Tap is opening at the edge of Downtown Cary Park. (Indy Week)

🦈 State wildlife officers are investigating after a shark was dumped on a Wake Forest roadside. (WRAL)

Quote du Jour

When you look at my career, my path, I was never the tallest guy, I was never the fastest ... but the one thing that I prided myself on was toughness. As long as I'm your head coach, you can count on that every single day that I'm going to bring that toughness and all of my teams ... will have that toughness."

The Artemis II Moon mission successfully launched from Florida's John F. Kennedy Space Center yesterday at 6:35pm.

Why it matters: The lunar flyby marks a key step towards NASA's grand ambition to return human boots to lunar soil, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick writes.

Driving the news: NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, plus Canada's Jeremy Hansen, are just beginning what's expected to be a 10-day mission around the Moon and back.

Between the lines: Artemis II is expected to make several bits of space history.

• Koch, an N.C. State grad who grew up in North Carolina, will become the first woman to travel beyond low Earth orbit.
• Glover and Hansen will become the first person of color and non-American to voyage beyond that mark, respectively.

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👋 Mary Helen here with a Triangle fishing report.

• I heard over the weekend that white bass were back in the area, so I went to New Hope Creek in Durham to check things out.

Zoom in: White bass spawn in North Carolina's creeks and rivers in the spring.

• Because they travel in large schools and are active feeders during the spawn, they "can be caught in great numbers at this time," per N.C. Wildlife.

State of play: They were indeed running on Tuesday, and plenty hungry.

• Two of us caught around a dozen white bass, using artificial swimbaits and spinners.