Recap: Hurricanes Dominate Kings

The Carolina Hurricanes closed out what was a historic month of February with a 6-1 rout of the Los Angeles Kings.
Teuvo Teravainen (1g, 3a), Dougie Hamilton (2g, 1a), Jordan Staal (3a) and Micheal Ferland (1g, 1a) led the offensive explosion for the Hurricanes, who finish February with a 10-3-0 record, the most wins and points (20) in February in franchise history.
Here are five takeaways from Tuesday's game at PNC Arena.

One
As if the score didn't illustrate it enough, the Hurricanes straight up dominated the Kings.
And it wasn't even close.
The Hurricanes looked like one of the NHL's hottest teams charging up the standings in the Eastern Conference. The Kings looked like a 30th-ranked team limping into their final stop on a four-game Eastern Conference road trip, on a back-to-back, no less.

The Hurricanes took care of business and wrote the story of this game exactly as it should have been written.
"That was the key - the start. We got a couple quick ones," head coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "I don't know if it deflated them or what, but you never want to give any team life, especially in your arena. Good win."
Two
As they knew they needed to, the Canes came out with a jolt of energy and put two goals on the board in the first 11:15 of the game.
"We knew they played last night and played well. We needed to get to them right away," Hamilton said. "It's tough to play when everyone is coming at you all the time. If we could do that in the first period, it's tough for the other team to come back from that."
Hamilton got the fun started with his first of two on the night, as he wheeled around the net and fired the puck into a mostly empty net from the left circle. Why was the net mostly empty? Well, Dion Phaneuf pushed Saku Maenalanen into Jonathan Quick, pulling the Kings' netminder out of position. He tried to squirm back to make a save on Hamilton but to no avail. The call on the ice was a goal, and a quick conversation between the officials confirmed that call. The Kings didn't bother to challenge, and the Canes were off and running.

Sebastian Aho doubled the Canes' lead when, on a 2-on-1 rush, he fired a shot five-hole on Quick. That goal was Aho's 25th of the season, and he's now got 70 points, equaling the highest single-season total for a Canes player since Eric Staal posted 70 points (24g, 46a) in 2011-12.

"We knew we wanted to jump on them early. I thought we did that in the first period," Staal said. "Going into the second, we didn't want to give them any life. We knew they're a good team, and if they stick around, they're going to find ways to push back and get some goals."
Three
The Canes poured it on with a four-pack of goals in the second period, two scored in a span of 1:54 at the beginning of the period and a pair scored in just 40 seconds in the second half of the middle stanza.
Ferland, who the Canes elected to hold onto as the trade deadline passed, made it a 3-0 game just 25 seconds into the period, when he got a stick on a Staal shot with net-front presence.

Less than two minutes later, Jaccob Slavin scored a power-play goal with a clap bomb from the top of the left circle.

"Had a good start. Got a couple of fortunate bounces. But, we did it right on those goals," Brind'Amour said. "At that point, it's just a matter of making sure we don't give up a bunch of chances, and I thought we did a pretty good job of that."
Later in the period, Staal, Ferland and Teravainen played tic-tac-goal in what was a team-best, four-point effort for Teravainen (1g, 3a).

Just 40 seconds later, Hamilton netted his second goal of the game, a one-timer off a pass from Teravainen that rocketed to the back of the net.

"We had a strong second, which helped kind of end the game," said Staal, who now has four assists in two games since returning from injury. "We were fortunate to kind of cruise in the third, which was nice."
Four
Unfortunately, not quite everything was coming up Canes.
Though they won the game, the Canes lost a pair of players to injury. Defenseman Justin Faulk left the game in the second period with an upper-body injury and didn't return. Ferland immediately departed after Hamilton's goal in the second, as he leapt to avoid the shot, made contact with Quick and fell to the ice. He did not return with what was deemed an upper-body injury.
"This is a tough night for [injuries]. We've got to assess the damage probably more tomorrow," Brind'Amour said. "We know we need everybody here to be successful. Everybody is so important to our group."
Five
This February was one to remember for the Hurricanes, who outscored opponents 47-22 in 13 games and posted 10 wins in a calendar month for just the fifth time in franchise history.
Their 19-6-1 record since New Year's Eve has vaulted the Hurricanes into third place in the Metropolitan Division, a position that, at this time of year, can vary on a nightly basis.
But, the Hurricanes are square in the mix with 19 games to play, and there's no sign of them slowing down any time soon.
"We're a close team with confidence in each other and the group," Hamilton said. "With the way we've been playing, we just keep going. We're just taking it one day at a time, trying to play the same way and prepare the same way."
"It's a good group of guys. We've been playing some good hockey as of late, which has been a lot of fun to jump in and join up with them," Staal said. "We're working hard, and good things are happening. We're going to continue building."
Up Next
The Hurricanes open their March schedule with a visit from the St. Louis Blues on Friday before heading back to South Florida to take on the Panthers on Saturday.
"It's been electric in [PNC Arena]. It helps. You can feel it on the bench," Brind'Amour said. "Our players are playing pretty well, and it's fun to watch them. We need fans to keep coming out, and we need to keep providing entertainment for them."