There’s no doubt the 2018-19 season has had its ups and downs for the Carolina Hurricanes. Recently, however, the team has found an upswing in the form of a four-game winning streak.

The Canes have used a number of improvements in key areas to drive a hot streak that currently has them sitting seven points shy of the East’s final wild-card spot with a game in hand.* If the team wants to get into the playoff chase for real, it needs to keep this streak going. Here are three keys to doing so:

Balanced scoring – Over the course of the past four games (two wins over the Philadelphia Flyers, followed by wins over the Columbus Blue Jackets and Ottawa Senators), 13 different players have found the back of the net.

Usual suspects such as forwards Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen have continued to dent the scoresheet, while rookie Andrei Svechnikov keeps heating up. In addition, bottom-sixers such as Jordan Martinook, Lucas Wallmark and Brock McGinn have also found twine.

Another key factor will be scoring from the blue line. After not scoring since early November, Dougie Hamilton, the team’s prized offseason acquisition, has scored in three straight games, while Justin Faulk and Jaccob Slavin have also scored.

If the Canes want to keep winning at this clip, getting that kind of balanced contribution up and down the lineup will be critical.

Goaltending – The Hurricanes’ annual Achilles’ heel has actually been a major improvement this year. After four straight years in the bottom five of the league in team save percentage, the Canes are ranked 22 this season. Removing the games the now-waived Scott Darling played would probably move that ranking up.

Petr Mrazek and Curtis McElhinney have been steady in net, and have given the team a chance to win on most nights. Over the four games, the pair have combined to allow just 2.5 goals per game.

All the Canes need is for their goalies to give them a chance, and so far they’ve been doing so, but they need to keep doing it.

Special teams – An abysmal power play is probably the number one reason the Canes currently sit so far out of the playoff picture. Not surprisingly, a dramatic improvement has coincided with the four consecutive victories. The Canes have four power-play goals over the four games, and really should have five, as one was scored right as a penalty expired.

In addition, the Canes have held opposing man advantages to just three goals in that span.

Poor special teams play is what dug the Canes a hole, and continuing to improve that will be critical if the team wants to keep playing its way back into the postseason hunt.

*this article was written and published before the conclusion of Tuesday night’s games