What is going on with the Canes??

Corey Lavallette, North State Journal and The Athletic at Corey Lavallette on Twitter joins me. All right, sir. I believe we have reached DEFCON 5. I have no idea what that really means, but Hurricanes fans are in a full blown panic right now. They just don't look right. We all agree on that.

Is it just, are they mentally worn? Which is certainly a good theory. What is your read on where this team is with two games to play?

Yeah, it's a tough situation. I mean, it's a team that doesn't look like itself. I don't think that has necessarily been true. The entire run of the, well, I guess we can call the post-Svetchnikov era.

Right. Because they did play some very good games. And, you know, we've seen this team's goal scoring dry up before, but seen them create a lot of chances. The problem right now is we've seen a few games where they're not creating a lot of chances and are actually maybe scoring at a better clip than they normally would as far as chances to goals. But you look at last night and, you know, the second two periods, granted, there was only about 20 minutes of five on five play, but I believe they only had 11 shot attempts. And that's not the way this team plays.

And, um, there's, there's a lot of problem areas right now. I mean, Martin Neches had a, you know, two assists night last night. And, um, you know, that's a positive, uh, of course he did it not at five on five, you know, four on four goal was, uh, you know, for Pesci was, uh, that open ice area and, uh, they need more out of him at five on five. Um, Seth Jarvis, I think he's playing really, really well and they need him that to convert into points.

I mean, it's, it's as simple as that. You can only, um, be pleased with, uh, effort and optics and underlying numbers for so long when you're at this point in the season. Corey level, Corey level at, uh, real quick about Jarvis had two unbelievable chances and Jordan stall had one and the Jordan stall and the Jarvis pass from Brent Burns from behind the goal happened within like two or three minutes of each other. How do those three chances not at least equal one goal that, that was the most baffling stall, which was a giveaway by the goalie right out in front. I don't know how that's not a goal. I don't know how Burns to Jarvis isn't a goal.

I don't know how nascent to Jarvis, which I believe was on the power play. I don't know how that wasn't a goal. Yeah, it's all, it, those are all tough situations. And, you know, if, you know, maybe if the pucks on someone else's stick other than Jordan stalls, they, you know, just wait out. So guard and drag it around them and slide it in.

And, um, but when you're not scoring and you see an open net, you know, I think everybody, if he tried that and it didn't work, everyone would scream, just shoot it. And, um, so when you're in this kind of rut and funk, and I mean, I think, you know, I think that's what this is. You know, I don't think we're talking about an underlying problem with the way this team is constructed or anything. This is a good team. They're, they're built well. Um, they have depth in a lot of places. They're just, they're not getting goalscoring right now. And their goaltending isn't anywhere near what it was last season. And last season it was, you know, Frederick Anderson was spectacular in this season. He hasn't done.

Who would be your starting goaltender game one right now? Well, I think we've talked about this. Yeah. Um, I don't know.

I, I can honestly say, I don't know. A few days ago, I probably would have said Anthony Rasa, just because if a guy isn't losing, there's something to that. Right. But he just lost. Um, Frederick Anderson played very well in, in spurts last night, but again, this isn't the Frederick Anderson of last season. It's just, it's just not, he's not on that level. Um, and then you have Piotr Kaczetko, who I think, you know, I think we can file him away as an afterthought for the moment and Chicago has a chance to still reach the playoffs and can get into a position tonight to do so.

I think he only ends up making an appearance if, if they do make the playoffs, if there's an injury. Right. Um, so it's hard. I mean, I don't, that's a, that's a tough question.

It's one I've tried to pull out of rod and the, the, the limited times we've seen them. Cause they haven't been practicing a lot. They're trying to conserve energy and they've been on the road a bit here. And, you know, so at one point I asked him about starting Frederick and Freddie and two straight games. Is this a, uh, you know, why do you start them in two straight games? And he's like, well, we want to get them into a rhythm. That means we're getting him ready for the playoffs.

But then after Francis, uh, you know, last win I asked is, you know, is, is this a possibility or would you even consider a, uh, you know, a platoon, a legit start one guy, one game, start one guy. The next game. And, uh, he said he didn't know.

He didn't know maybe that's because they don't know. And that is, uh, that is the problem. I think if, uh, the playoffs started today, it would be auntie Ronta in net. And not just because Freddie played yesterday.

I think Ronta will be the game one starter. Uh, he's just been less bad than Freddie has for the most part. Uh, do we have any clue? And if this has been in a season long thing, this has not really changed. Do we know where Tevo, Tara vine, it is, you know, there have been all these moments throughout the season where something happens and you're like, maybe that's the moment that gets him pointed in the right direction. And the most recent was that little Aho goal the other day where pulley RV sets up terrifying and he quickly dishes across the Aho and it's in the net and you're like, there it is. That's what he is as a player. Um, I know the power play hasn't been good, you know, in any of the last few seasons that said Tara Biden led the team in power play points last year or power play assists, at least, um, that hasn't been the case this year. He has not been particularly effective on the power play.

They miss him there horribly. Um, and it really limits their chance to even get hot on the power play right now, unless he gets going. Cause he's such a cerebral player out there that can break teams down, uh, with the way he, he plays particularly with on the man advantage. Um, I don't, you know, everybody wants to point to effort and all that.

And I don't think that's an issue even for Tara Biden. I know defensively, he's playing very well. He's, he's a huge part of the, of this penalty kill that is keeping the team afloat right now, really, if we want to, if we want to say they're afloat right now. Um, but you know, just like I said with Jarvis, you know, at some point, the positives need to equal something more than.

Uh, moral victories. Yeah. It's we have, we have like 45 seconds left, but what I'm hoping is that the playoffs start and Tara vine and walks past a mirror and snaps back into being Tevo, Tara vine and, uh, and final thing. And here's really, I think what the problem has been over the last, let's just say two weeks is that all of the little things, the puck management, the defensive awareness, which I thought was, uh, you know, it was a problem last night.

All of those things. Plus the shaky at times, goaltending has led to more goals being allowed based on what they give up than normal and early goals. I think we can't lose sight of the fact that, you know, one way apply a person in the team described this to me is, you know, the, the first couple periods are important in a game, certainly. And you want to be ahead, but the way the hurricanes play is like a, is like a, less like a Mike Tyson and more like a Lennox Lewis. They are going to body below you and jazz at death. And by the time the third period rolls around, we've seen it a ton this year with them coming back in third period. Yeah, we, we sort of saw it, we sort of saw it, uh, last night until the last mistake. I'll see you at the rink later on Corey.