The Carolina Hurricanes had a big win last night against the Edmonton Oiler and a couple of the stars were Pyotr and Martinook, who might have surprised some.

Luke DeCock of the News and Observer, my friend at Luke DeCock on Twitter. Do you have an answer to that question? Why do we have two Dakotas? One plays hockey and the other doesn't. Well, North Dakota plays hockey, South Dakota doesn't. Right, that's why we have two. Oh, so that's how they figured it out. They figured this out like in the 1800s when we admitted the Dakotas.

Which one of you plays hockey? And that's the dividing line? We separated them that way?

Yeah, otherwise it would have really screwed things up. All right, let's get to the Hurricanes last night before we talk about some college things. Look, they went two and a half games without intentionally scoring a five-on-five goal.

I don't count how Coke and EME scored his lone goal of the season, which was really accidental. They hadn't had a five-on-five goal since the Neches goal at 4.03 of the second period against Buffalo last Friday night. Last night, though, was a super entertaining game. They were, it was just fun.

You had to be engaged, otherwise you're going to get run over by McDavid and Drysidel. And the stall line was spectacular last night. They've been good, but now they produced some points.

What was your takeaway from last night? Well, I was curious whether this sort of even-strength scoring drought was a trend or just sort of a couple games of bad shooting luck. Because there were times, obviously the Leafs game was a little up and down, but there were times in that game where the Hurricanes looked like they were doing what they were trying to do.

And obviously Florida was a little bit of a different story. But when this team is on, obviously it's capable of scoring the holes in bunches, which is what happened last night, not just for Andrei Srechnikov, but others. But I think one of the things that you'd like to see from this group, especially because it's a, it's a long season and what we saw over the previous couple of games was a little eerily reminiscent of what went wrong in the playoffs when both the even-strength goal scoring and power of play dried up.

But I do think this was probably coming. It probably came at a good time because obviously you can score too. And, you know, there are a couple of sort of flukey goals in there and that's what you need.

You know, that, that helps. You know, I mean, you're not going to score that many goals from your stomach in midair, but if that's what it takes to score a five on five goal, you might as well. Right from his keister, Jordan Martinuk, we're from his, it was phenomenal. That line was really good last night.

And, you know, it's funny, I want to talk to Jordan and ask him this question. At the beginning of the season, before the season started, when the Hurricanes needed to make a procedural move to create more cap room and they placed him on waivers, they took a risk. Anybody could have claimed him. Jordan Martinuk, if, if you knew he was going to stay healthy, that is a salary you can put on your team because he helps you win.

He provides so much. They took a chance that nobody would take him because he's got another year and it's hard to rely on him for more than 45 or 50 games. But so far through 14, it's been pretty good. You know, he's always been good when he's healthy.

I mean, I don't think there's much, you know, that's always been the issue. There's nagging injuries and for him to play the way he has to play to be effective, you know, he needs to be at full strength because he doesn't, you know, have the speed to make up for, uh, whatever else he doesn't have. And he's not the most skilled player.

He's got to be 100% healthy to be effective and play the game he has to play. I actually don't think it was as big of a risk putting him on waivers just because of the timing. They were very intentional about the timing and they did it not on the last day, but on the day when every other team is sorting through their roster decision, trying to figure out who they're going to put on waivers, uh, if they had done it at a different time.

Yeah. I think someone might've grabbed him and said, especially a team, you know, whether it's a Seattle or a Buffalo, a team that's looking to make a jump and need some leadership. I mean, I think Jordan Martin is probably exactly what Buffalo needs right now, because that's a really good young team that needs a Justin Williams type to kind of lead it over the top. And he'd be perfect there, but they couldn't claim it because they were in roster hell too. So, you know, the time, the timing of that was, was very clever and it really minimized the chances that he was going to get claimed by everybody.

And, and obviously he didn't, that was good news for the hurricane. Didn't start out with, with stall and FOS, but obviously has, has fit there and given them what they need. He did obviously a different player than, than Nino Niederreiter. Everyone knows that Paul's fast. He's a different player when he was in that spot, but Jordan Martin hook is, has, you know, he doesn't have to worry about keeping up with those guys.

He understands their game. It's a smart veteran line and he's fit very well there. He's been great. He was great on the fourth line when he started the season there. Jordan Martin hook has made every line better. Uh, analytically speaking, if you look at all the combinations, he's been a part of, uh, he has not been on a bad line yet this year.

Luke to cock of the NNO is joining us here. Uh, last thing about the hurricanes, they put Fred, well, I guess there might be two. They put Freddie Anderson on injured reserve retroactive to the 6th of November. Maybe it was the injury, uh, that he occurred, I guess in the, um, in the Toronto game, he was, he was crashed into, uh, during the leafs game.

So maybe it goes back to that. Uh, but Kuchetkov was, I mean, again, I, I just keep using this phrase. He was super fun.

He was also very good, but he was also just super fun and exciting last night. Uh, what did it remind you of? Reminds me a little bit of Archers Urbay, um, especially the Pope Jack, you know, Archers Urbay diving. I mean, Archers Urbay freight train Peter Socorro one time racing for a puck, um, or, or Archie was more of an adventure handling the puck. I think like most goalies of his generation Kuchetkov is better at that. Um, but you know, I, he's electric when he plays there's, there's a little bit of loose cannon in there.

There's a little bit of, I don't know how you, the technical unrefinement that makes things a bit of an adventure sometime, but he's got such skill and ability and, and reflexes that he can sometimes, you know, make up for some of his own errors through sheer athleticism or, or guile or, or courage in some cases. And, um, you know, he had a bit of a baptism by fire with just a little bit in the regular season and thrown right into the playoffs against a really good team. And I'm not sure that we ever really saw him at his best.

Um, I'm not sure we did last night. Uh, it's still going to be an adjustment period, but there's something to be said for being undefeated in the NHL regular season. I don't know how long that'll last, but you know, at the moment, I think he has the record. Uh, yeah, what five and oh, no, four, no, four, no in the regular season. Uh, and then he won his first playoff start as well.

Right. Then he went his first playoff. He won in relief. He lost his first startup.

Oh, that's too bad. That's right. He won in, won in relief. Uh, look, he's, he's obviously they, they think of him as the future. Uh, and maybe he is, maybe he's a future one. Uh, but he's been fun and he is, he is super exciting. And I think no hurricanes fan will forget when he challenged Brad Marchant last year in the playoffs and he came out and he just gave him like, he basically punched him with his glove. Uh, and I whacked him.

Yeah. He Marshawn knocked him over. Uh, could check off whacked him with the stick. Marshawn whacked him back. It could check or just punched him in the chest the way you punch a kid in the school yard, trying to pick a flight.

It was as I, as I tweeted last night, it was the poke check was the best use of could check off sticks since he whacked Marshawn. That was, uh, that was incredible. Last night, the place went bananas.

Uh, all right. Let me, uh, let me ask you about Carolina's trip to wake forest. Uh, this is look, North Carolina's played great.

The defense, you know, is the defense it's, it's been better, but it's all relative, relative to what it was. I don't think wake forest is going to play the same way they played the against Louisville. I don't think they're going to help Carolina out. So Carolina is going to have to be really good offensively to outscore wake forest.

How do you see this? Yeah. I mean, I think the thing about Carolina is so far that they've, the reality is they've lost to the one really good team they've played. And I don't, and that's giving Notre Dame a lot of credit to call them really good. Um, but they did go and win on the road, which, you know, Clemson couldn't win at Notre Dame and Notre Dame was able to come down to chapel Hill and win. Uh, so this is, I think this game and the state game are the, are two huge tests for North Carolina because these are, they will play legit teams and, and wake forest, despite its struggles the past two weeks, um, has an elite quarterback. It has a solid veteran defense.

It's going to be at home. Um, that's a tough game. That's a tougher game than Carolina is going to play in the, in the coastal division and state for all the issues off and on with state's offense. Although obviously MJ Morris looks good and the receivers have grown up a lot, which helps, uh, state's defense is elite. And that's absolutely going to be a movable force, resistible object situation, uh, when they play, but Carolina has something to prove here because, you know, there's uncertainty about just how good these guys are because of the teams they've played. And I think wake is a great example or a great opportunity for, for Carolina to, you know, to, to show what it can do or be found out.

I don't know that we know the answer to that yet. Is it condescending to, for me to say that I was proud of NC state's coaching staff for how they coached, how they, uh, approached the game against wake forest? I mean, they had, they actually allowed MJ Morris to throw the ball downfield and be aggressive. I liked that. Peloton. Let's go this holiday with the right music and the right motivation from world-class instructors. We're going to pick it up a notch.

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I don't know that it's condescending. I think we need to understand though that at the beginning of the year, when Devin Leary was playing quarterback, they didn't want to throw the ball a lot because they didn't trust the receivers. And then the Syracuse game, they certainly didn't want to throw the ball a lot because both chambers and Morris were very new to the position and still learning the playbook. I think what we saw, uh, in the last game was a quarterback who's had some reps now and wasn't getting any don't forget that chambers and Leary were getting all the reps.

So now you've got a quarterback in Morris who's getting some reps. The receivers have made obvious improvement. I mean, if they played like that against Clemson, uh, you know, state might not be in the fix it's in right now.

I mean, I feel bad for Devin Leary that he didn't get the benefit from the rewards of working with those guys. Um, but you put all that together and it made it a lot easier for him to Morris and it's made the play calling look a lot better. I think there's a balance there between, were they too cautious at the start of the year and are they able to be more aggressive now? Um, I don't know necessarily that you will ever know the answer to that, but there's also no question that at this point, that's a offensive coaching staff that has opened up the playbook a little bit.

And you know what? Yes, you can throw a pick, but generally speaking, good things happen when you throw along. It opens up the defense. You can get a pass interference penalty. Um, even a drop forces the defense to adjust.

So, um, you know, good things happen typically when you throw along. And now that they have the confidence to do that, I think we've seen more results there. And you're the last part of what you just said is exactly why I don't give them a pass for not throwing the ball down the field.

I don't care if Thayer Thomas is the only receiver that has cleats. You have to stretch the defense and they refuse to do that early on. They tried to, they tried to just let their defense win and let's see what happens. And ultimately that they settled for field goals rather than try to score touchdowns. And I, that's an oversimplification for what, what went on for five or six weeks, but they were so conservative with their approach. And when they had no other option against Virginia Tech, when they had to chuck it down the field, suddenly they were, Oh, look at, look at what we can do.

So look, MJ is, uh, is, has been fun. And I hope that continues. And I'd love to see, uh, state and Carolina meet with exactly the same number of losses as they have right now. I would love to see that game Friday of, uh, of Thanksgiving weekend. Uh, you'll be there, right?

I will be there yet. I will be, uh, uh, doing what the hurricanes are playing the Boston Bruins in Boston the day after Thanksgiving. So I will be on the radio for that.

Yeah. I'd like to really like to be watching Carolina and NC state. Uh, all right, Luke to cock. I appreciate your time. Uh, have fun.

I assume you're going to Winston Salem. I am not. I am a I'm off this weekend.

Uh, this is some personal stuff, but I will be back. Good for you. Good for you. Take some time, man.

This is it. This is my last, my last work of the weekend. I'm all I'm all punch me out. I'll clock. I'll clock you out right now. Appreciate it.

At Luke to cock on Twitter. That's awesome. Uh, all right. From Elvis and apex North Dakota has the world's largest Buffalo monument. Oh, okay.

All right. I have a question about that. Is it a, is it a, is it a Buffalo made monument?

That's a great question asking, uh, and rugby North Dakota is the geographical center of North America. Does that help their case at all? I would say no. Yeah.

I would say no, it doesn't help their case, but it is an interesting fact to it. My only it's not that it shouldn't exist, right? We're not trying to like, it just shouldn't be its own state.

That's all it's all I'm saying. Just make it one big state, making it huge like Texas, but then Texas would have competition and that's probably some of the issue. Seriously. Explain Montana to me. Montana has is one state.

It's one is bigger than North and South Dakota combined. Why? No sense makes none lobbying. That's why. Uh, all right.

Let's uh, let's get to that. Would you say that you are a superstitious person? Not at all.

No, I do not have any superstitions to the point where I don't recognize other people's superstitions at all. Just because. Yes. Yeah.

So you would walk right under that ladder regardless. Yeah. Okay. Well, maybe you didn't notice then that today is 11-11. Right. And that's a big deal for some people. 11-11 is a big deal. Because have you ever heard like, oh, it's 11-11 make a wish, like on the clock. Okay.

Yeah. That's a thing. Well, some people think that this whole day is lucky because they're that superstitious. So while it's 11-11 at 11-11, which we already did the am portion, there's going to be another one though.

That's when you should make your wish. I had no idea that this was a thing. There's a name for it.

Adam numeral logist call this the repeating digits, angel numbers, angel numbers. Yes. And it's supposedly it's supposed to be a sign of a brief opening when you can Peloton. Let's go this holiday with the right music and the right motivation from world-class instructors. We're going to pick it up a notch.

It's the holiday season. You might just surprise yourself with what you're capable of work out to thousands of live and on-demand classes from running to cycling to yoga. Try Peloton risk free with a 30 day home trial. New members only not available in remote locations. See additional terms at one peloton.com slash home dash trial Peloton motivation that moves you.