FanHouse NiclasHavelid

After a rather lifeless performance Wednesday in Game One, the Carolina Hurricanes were on a mission Friday night. They were out to prove themselves a worthy opponent for Eastern Conference third seed New Jersey, and to even the series on the road.

They got it done. After the teams traded some great scoring chances but only one goal apiece in regulation, the Hurricanes took charge in a short overtime. The extra frame was ended by Carolina defenseman Tim Gleason, whose blast beat Martin Brodeur for a 2-1 Carolina win.

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Weeks of rumors, innuendo, and e5s will finally come to a head on Wednesday. At 3pm Eastern, the NHL trade deadline will pass. You can follow all the activity with our NHL Trade Deadline Tracker.

Entering play Tuesday night, 23 NHL teams are either in a playoff position or within six points of one. While this is great for the playoff races, it's not so good for the deadline. It minimizes the number of potential sellers, drives up the trade market for the few players who should be available, and leaves us wondering if any big deals will go down. Here's a look at how the Eastern Conference looks heading into the deadline.

Islanders 4, Avalanche 2: Monday night was the worst case scenario for the Versus "game of the week." The only game on the NHL's schedule featured the worst team in the Western Conference, the Colorado Avalanche, taking on the worst team in the NHL, the New York Islanders.

Combine two disappointing teams with the fact New York is under a foot of snow, and you had two bad teams playing in front of about 14,000 empty seats. Oh, and the Islanders won, 4-2.

The New Jersey Devils added to their blue line on Monday afternoon, acquiring defenseman Niclas Havelid from the Atlanta Thrashers in exchange for 24-year-old defenseman Anssi Salmela, as reported by TSN. And with that, the madness leading up to Wednesday's trade deadline has begun.

Havelid, 35, is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent following the season, and has recorded two goals and 13 assists in 63 games for Atlanta.