Don't blow it: if the Hurricanes don't win the `Southleast' division, they very well could miss the playoffs. Have they got what it takes to play in the postseason? (NHL).(hockey team Carolina Hurricanes)

As the leading scorer on an NHL team that showed up on the playoff scene a year ago, Hurricanes winger Jeff O'Neill figured everything was falling into place. His career was blossoming, and hockey finally was showing signs of catching on in North Carolina.

But after the first-round series against the Devils ended, O'Neill and his teammates faced a long summer. Likely a superstar in a hockey-crazed city, O'Neill instead slipped back into anonymity around Raleigh, N.C.

"Not a lot of people bother you down here," O'Neill says.

That might change if the Hurricanes maintain their grip on the top spot in the Southeast Division. After relative playoff ...