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(Sports Network) - The Carolina Hurricanes may be playing their best hockey of the season, but that didn't stop the team from looking solely towards the future at the trade deadline.

After dealing away five members of the roster on Wednesday, the revamped Hurricanes shoot for a seventh consecutive victory in tonight's battle with the Ottawa Senators from the RBC Center.

Despite their current winning streak, the team's longest since a nine-game tear from March 18-April 7 of last season, the Hurricanes still stand 14th out of 15 Eastern Conference teams with 57 points. That prompted Carolina to sell off a number of its veteran players, with defensemen Aaron Ward (Anaheim), Joe Corvo (Washington) and Andrew Alberts (Vancouver) all shipped out along with battle-tested forwards Scott Walker (Washington) and Stephane Yelle (Colorado).

The Hurricanes received a slew of draft choices from the moves, as well as defenseman Brian Pothier from the Capitals in the Corvo deal.

One player Carolina did hold onto was forward Ray Whitney, who's played a key role in the team's recent surge. The accomplished scorer has recorded a point in each of the Hurricanes' last six wins, amassing three goals and five assists over that span.

Whitney had an assist in Tuesday's 5-1 triumph at Toronto, which improved Carolina to 10-2-0 over its last 12 outings. Chad LaRose led the charge with a goal and two helpers, while young goaltender Justin Peters stopped 32-of-33 shots in his third NHL start.

"Peters was very good for us, and we skated well -- we'd been playing very well before the (Olympic) break," said Carolina head coach Paul Maurice.

Peters has won all three of his starts since being called up from the minors in early February to replace the injured Cam Ward, and the 23-year-old prospect has posted a stellar 1.34 goals against average in those games.

Jussi Jokinen registered a goal and an assist in Tuesday's win and now has 13 points (9 goals, 4 assists) during a 10-game scoring streak.

Ottawa was much less active than the Hurricanes at the deadline, with Tuesday's acquisition of defenseman Andy Sutton from the New York Islanders the team's only transaction. The Senators didn't feel the need to make major changes after having gone 14-3-0 since January 14 and moving into first place in the Northeast Division with 76 points.

The Sens didn't come out strong in their first game after the Olympic break, though, dropping a 4-1 decision at home to the New York Rangers on Tuesday.

Ottawa had taken an early 1-0 lead on Milan Michalek's first-period goal, but the Rangers scored four times in the second against netminder Brian Elliot, who was replaced by Pascal Leclaire in the third after saving only 12-of-16 shots.

"We didn't have a good game and in this league, you need to bounce back quickly," said Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson.

The Senators will attempt to bounce back in tonight's visit to the RBC Center, a place where they haven't won in their last four trips. Carolina dealt the Senators a 4-1 loss in Raleigh back on January 10, with Ward turning aside 31- of-32 shots to lead the way.