The 11-day wait between series might be new, given it’s a modern-day record for the NHL, but what isn’t is the fact the Carolina Hurricanes are still playing hockey this deep into May.This postseason marks the fourth time in the past eight that they’ve made the conference finals, a feat matched only by the already-eliminated Dallas Stars and the Vegas Golden Knights, who’ll face the Colorado Avalanche over in the Western side of the bracket starting Wednesday.In that span, only three franchises have more than Carolina’s 55 playoff wins (Colorado, Vegas and Dallas), but just one of those victories has come after the second round. That lack of a deeper push — getting eliminated by Cup-winning teams and finalists in short order in Round 3 — has fed some of the skeptics about the Hurricanes over time, despite their undeniable regular-season dominance.This is a team whose foibles have been listed as everything from its lack of a “true” No. 1 goaltender to missing a high-octane offensive superstar or being “Corsi merchants” — a reference to its ability to pile up shot attempts thanks to a consistent territorial advantage, an area in which it continues to excel.Though there have been kernels of truth in all three areas over the past seven seasons, what’s also clear is this year’s version of the Hurricanes is a more evolved one than anything we’ve seen before. Overall, this is a deeper roster at every position, one that fought through plenty of adversity during a 113-point regular season. They are also better equipped to overcome those weaknesses against a plucky young Montreal Canadiens team in the Eastern Conference final, which begins Thursday in Raleigh.Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky, in his second season in the big chair but his 12th with the organization, believes what has separated his team this year is how workmanlike it was in piling up all those wins under less than ideal circumstances. Carolina, for example, lost more salary among defensemen to injury ($6 million) than all but two other teams in the NHL this season, including defensive stalwart Jaccob Slavin’s going down for 43 games.“This year’s team is as good as any we’ve had,” Tulsky said. “We’ve had some great teams over the years. I would say this year’s team has been uniquely challenged with injuries for sure and some other sort of unusual wrinkles — Olympic break, compressed schedule, everything else. We’ve had more injuries this year than any season since ’14-15, and that included Slavin missing half the year. Coming through that with the record we had and the team we have speaks to a resilience that has served us well.”Where Carolina’s resilience has really showed all year is in its improved offensive game. The Hurricanes produced a franchise-record 291 goals this year, second to only the Avalanche leaguewide, and had the fourth-best power play in the NHL (25 percent). The seven previous iterations of the playoff-bound Canes never hit those heights. In fact, they were frequently outside the NHL’s top 10 in either category; last season, they finished ninth in goals per game and way down in 25th with the man advantage.That newfound offensive firepower isn’t particularly concentrated on any one line, either: veteran center Sebastian Aho was the only Hurricane with more than 71 points this season. But Carolina had seven forwards hit 20 goals and 11 who rang up at least 10, which leads the NHL in both those categories.“We’ve always had a very deep defensive corps,” Tulsky said of the Hurricanes’ historically stout blue lines. “I think we have added more skill up and down our forward group and have put together a team where all four lines are a threat to score in a way that is not easy to do and that we haven’t always had.”One of the bigger catalysts in that shift has been the addition of Nikolaj Ehlers, who signed as a free agent on a massive six-year, $51 million deal and had a career-high 71-point season in part to his effectiveness on the power play. But it’s been the third line of greybeard Taylor Hall with youngsters Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake that has been the true revelation this spring, as they’ve produced 14 of Carolina’s 24 goals as part of sweeping the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers back-to-back.It’s an unorthodox line given their lack of size — including Stankoven, the center, at just 5 feet 8 — but they suit coach Rod Brind’Amour’s relentless, swarming style of attack, especially as they’re often deployed against other teams’ bottom-two forward lines and third defense pairing. Few teams line-match as hard as Carolina, which will likely be a factor in the coming series.Tulsky explained he and the Hurricanes scouts are always seeking the type of players who will fit their coaching staff’s play style, a luxury they have thanks to the fact Brind’Amour has been behind the bench all of the past eight seasons of this playoff streak. Hall and Stankoven were high-profile trade acquisitions late last season during Tulsky’s first year as GM; Blake was a fourth-round pick in 2021 when Tulsky was an assistant GM.Combined, all three account for less than $4.9 million on the salary cap.“One of the things our pro scouting group focuses on most is trying to assess who will look better for us than they do with their current team,” Tulsky said. “And that comes down to the way we play, which is very distinctive and requires certain skills and can be forgiving of (gaps) in other areas. So there are players who are very good at the things we need players to be able to do well and will come here and look good even if other aspects of the game hold them back a little with another team.”Perhaps the biggest remaining question mark for this Hurricanes team remains in goal, where 36-year-old Frederik Andersen struggled through injuries and inconsistency in playing just 35 games during the regular season. Through two rounds, however, Andersen has been the best goaltender in the playoffs, posting an impressive 11.2 goals saved above expected in going a perfect 8-0.Despite some high-profile exits in the playoffs earlier in his career with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Andersen has always had a very strong backer in Tulsky, who is adamant the big Dane hasn’t been the issue for Carolina in postseasons past. But the GM didn’t deny that all this rest, with Andersen playing just eight games in the past 38 days, might end up benefiting him more than anyone.“He’s been playing really well,” Tulsky said. “He has been good for us for a long time … I think given his age and his history, you have to guess that it’s good for him to get those breaks. At the same time, he’s been good for us, and I imagine when you go four straight games looking really solid, you don’t want to have 12 days before your next game. So I don’t know that he would vote for that kind of break, but you know it probably does help him.”As for this writer’s suggested notion that this Hurricanes roster is “the culmination” of what he and his staff have been building toward the past eight seasons — since owner Tom Dundon bought the troubled franchise and promoted Brind’Amour to head coach — Tulsky wasn’t biting there.They might be undefeated in these playoffs and they might have taken strides to put them closer to being the top team in the league than ever. But no one’s saying mission accomplished in Raleigh right now, not when they’ve made it to this halfway point so often in the past and fallen short. They know there’s a long way to go.“Culmination implies that we’re done,” Tulsky said. “We want to keep getting better and better. But there is no doubt that our willingness to take risks and to seek every opportunity to make the team better has paid off over time.“Part of how we’ve been able to build a deep roster is by trusting in our draft group and development pipeline to continue to turn out players like Blake and (rookie defenseman Alexander Nikishin). Part of it is by trusting our pro scouts to continue to find players like Ehlers and (Eric) Robinson and (Sean) Walker. Half our lineup came as free agents in the last year or two, so we’ve done a lot of work to keep bringing in talent and continuing to push things forward. And a lot really comes down to just a comfort with risk and betting on our ability to find players who will fit.”It shows when you watch this Hurricanes team play this spring. In some ways, they look like the old Hurricanes. But in other, very important ones, they’ve leveled up.Whether that improvement has been enough to take the next step is about to get its first big test.