"Anthony Stewart came into the dressing room after practice with his practice jersey soaked from neck to waist. One of his Carolina Hurricanes teammates had loosened the cap on a water bottle on the bench and then vanished.

"Literally, I almost drowned," Stewart complained, as his teammates chuckled.

It's been a long time since anyone on the team felt like playing pranks. But as the Hurricanes start to show some progress under Kirk Muller, with Thursday's four-goal first period and 5-2 win at the Tampa Bay Lightning the latest example, it's only natural that they start savoring it a little bit as well.

"When you get a game like last night, you don't let your guard down, but you can at least enjoy it a little bit," Muller said Friday.

In three of their past four games - a home win over the Buffalo Sabres last Sunday, a narrow loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday and Thursday night's boisterous win at the Lightning - the Hurricanes have played with the heart and hustle Muller wants to see from them."