See, the Carolina Hurricanes CAN win a hockey game!

My name is Adam Gold.

That is Victoria. Hi, we got to win. Yes, exactly right. It feels good as the late, great Chuck Thompson, the longtime voice of the Baltimore Orioles and the Baltimore Colts used to say, ain't the beer cold. He used that phrase whenever the Colts or the Orioles just did something great.

Meaning, you know, it just feels, feels good again. So yeah, they had not won. They had not gotten a point in any of their last three games.

And I know how people process it. Well, if they had just gotten this or even people were going back to the last time the Hurricanes played Detroit and the gut punch way that they lost in regulation in Detroit with less than four seconds left, if they had just dragged that one into overtime, it would have been very different. Maybe it would have, I don't know, but they got a win last night. Yeah, they did.

They did. I wonder if it's because of your bet and it actually worked this time. Yes, I bought it. I bought the win.

So it's 100 units. I'm happy to sacrifice. So look, I try to do that when I can.

I do. I do try to do that when I can. So it was counterproductive against Ottawa on Monday. It did work out in our favor. You had to get the first one out of the way. It went the other way. So we should try that again.

Maybe tomorrow. We'll try that one more time. Look, it was a good night for the Hurricanes in a lot of fronts. They signed a goaltender, not one that's going to help this year, although maybe they don't need it. Aunty Ronta was good last night. He had the goal. I think if we were asking if Aunty was sitting across from me right now, I believe that Ronta would say, yeah, I have to be better on that. Wasn't that it wouldn't have been a goal otherwise, but he really didn't have the short side covered. So it's probably one that Aunty was like, yeah, I didn't play that well.

But he made a lot of really good saves when they had to have him last night. We'll talk about that. So the NBA playoffs started last night. Major League Baseball has adjusted a rule based on what the new rules have done to the game. They had to make a major rule adjustment. People are going to love this.

I promise you, people will love it. We'll tell you about that later. Now the game's only an hour and a half. Pretty much. Pretty much.

With the games ending in two and a half hours, basically on average, Major League Baseball, at the behest of their teams, has made an alteration to a rule. So, yes, and it was necessary. And again, I think everybody will be excited. And you know what started yesterday? Hmm. Off-season programs for NFL teams.

So, organized bench pressing. There you go. Look at that.

They just do not trust their players. No. Like, it's an off-season. You guys should be able to do what the hell you want. But nope, we need to see you lift weights. I need to see you on a squat rack right now.

Picks or it didn't happen. Well, like, Romanian deadlifts. You need to do that in front of me. Otherwise, yeah. Well, you know, there was, like, an old story about Rob Gronkowski would, like, he filmed a bunch of workout sessions.

And to prove that he was working out, he would send the team videos of him working out, but he wasn't actually working out. Of course. Yeah. Perfect.

Rob Gronkowski is undefeated. Yeah. All right. We got a lot of things to do. Let's go. They're off. Quick tease ahead. Coming up in about 20 minutes or so.

Maybe a little bit more than 20 minutes. The head coach of Quinnipiac, who won a national championship this weekend, Saturday night in Tampa, Rand Pecknold. Remember, he coaches Rod Brind'Amour's son, Skyler. So we'll talk to him about winning a title and all of the, all that goes into it. And as you'll hear in the item coming up, the Hurricanes grabbed their goalie, who is beyond good. I don't, I have no idea how he had no, nobody signed him up. We're happy to take him. We're happy to take him. 23 years old. How did this guy slip through the cracks?

His numbers are bonkers. All right. Let's see.

Let's start here. The Carolina Hurricanes can win a hockey game. So Rod Brind'Amour after the game was asked if there was anything more to it than just getting back on the winning track. Yeah.

I don't know that it's confidence. And I just think, you know, we got a little bit in a rut there and I didn't let him not dislike a lot of the games we played. It was just the one game I didn't like. But other than that stretch, I thought we were pretty, still pretty good. Just things weren't going our way. And tonight was kind of the opposite. Kind of got the breaks and obviously got the win.

Yeah. I kind of think that Detroit was not 100% dialed in. That's the way I kind of felt for the first eight or so minutes. They're without their best player. Dylan Larkin did not play.

They're without Dylan Larkin and they appeared somewhat disinterested at the start. But part of that could also have been that Carolina was really good early. The first goal happens at the end of a minute and a half long shift in Detroit zone. Five guys, same five guys stayed on the ice basically the entire time.

It was Kokiti, Emi, Naches, and Stefan Naesen who ends up with the goal, but also Jalen Chatfield and Shane Goss-Despair. I mean, they just had the puck for a minute and a half. Eventually, Naesen scores the goal, but they get the first two goals of the game and Ronta was really good at the end of the period.

Here's Rod on the early sequence. The first period, that's where we won the game. We came ready to play and kind of got up in the lead, but then, you know, it wasn't great after that, but we didn't have to be which is good about coming ready to play because we won the game in the first period. But they won the game in the first period, but they won the game in two different ways. So they get the first two goals inside of eight minutes, it's two nothing. The last five minutes was not good for Carolina.

They were kind of a mess. And that's what Ante Ronta did his best work. And I joked during that sequence, it was as though Carolina wanted to make Ronta the first star because with about five minutes left in the period, Carolina had outshot Detroit 11 to 1. It was that one-sided. Carolina didn't get the third goal, would have been nice, but Detroit was doing nothing. And then all of a sudden, the last five minutes of the period, it felt like Ante Ronta was under siege, but he was tremendous at the end of the period. And look, that's what Carolina needs. Ronta has been talking about it for years.

I'm not worried about what the statistic looks like or what the statistics look like. I'm worried about, can we get the big save? Can we get that save when we need it? And Ronta gave that to them in the latter portion of the first period, because if you go into the second period and it's 2-1, it's a different game. Yes, Detroit made it 2-1 in the second period, but they didn't go into the period with the score 2-1. And ultimately Carolina restored the two-goal lead right away on a Brent Burns goal, but it was really, really good. Ronta makes 20 saves, and here's Rod on the goaltender. You know, he's played well for sure. And, you know, again tonight, made a handful of really quality saves, and that's what we need, obviously. Yeah, the big save when you need it to keep the momentum on your side. One other thing about the game last night was, I thought it was a great performance from one of their most important players. It's not the Tevo Terevanen type guy that we need, desperately need. But, you know, I've joked around with Jordan Martinuk, and I spoke to him before the game. I've asked him about, you know, this time of the year, how many things normally hurt, how many things hurt now, and he's like, just two, but they're not that important.

It's funny. But once again, Martinuk was a catalyst for good things, and Jordan had one of the goals. They had the second goal, and Brendan Moore on his alternate captain. Yeah, but he's kind of the heart and soul guy, and he brings a lot of energy. So, this time of year where there's a little lull in that department, you lean on guys like that even more, and that's, you can see it tonight. He kind of, you know, obviously got the goal, but he plays solid.

He was great. I loved Jordan Martinuk's game all night long. All right, so here's what's in front of Carolina with, I guess there are three days left in the regular season. Carolina only has one more game left.

It is Thursday at Florida. We're going to assume that the Devils are going to win in Washington because I think that's a pretty good assumption. Although, Washington did just smack the Islanders the other day, 5-2.

True. But the Devils are going to go to Washington and win, which means that if you want to win the division, and I think the Hurricanes want to win the division, you have to win at Florida. You can't, if the Devils win and the Hurricanes don't, they will finish second.

That is just the reality. So the Canes have to do whatever the Devils do, and Carolina will win the Metropolitan division. Panthers have already clinched a wildcard spot because Buffalo lost and Pittsburgh can't explain the Pittsburgh Penguins, man. No. Can't explain it.

They have completely, they have peed themselves. Can I say that? Am I allowed to say that? Yeah, you can, especially about the Penguins. I mean, I mean, Pittsburgh. I mean, they have Pittsburgh themselves. They lost at home to the Blackhawks. I know. What are you doing? So the Panthers clinched a wildcard spot. We just don't know which one. The Islanders played tonight against Montreal.

Also not good, by the way. Montreal. If the Islanders win, then the Panthers have to get at least a point to maintain their hold on wildcard one. So I mean, would Carolina take an overtime win over the Panthers? They'll take a win, but like nobody's going to orchestrate anything, but the Panthers, I mean, they're going to try to win the game. So, but if the, if the Islanders win tonight, which I get, I think as a safe assumption, then the Panthers are going to need a win to get wildcard one because they don't want to play Boston. Wildcard two plays Boston.

Who wants to play those guys? They, they fall out of bed and win a hockey game last night. They've got 63 wins now. Or is it 64 now?

I don't even know. They set the record for points in an NHL season. They still have a game left.

It's bonkers how good they are. So if the Islanders win, then Florida is going to have to win as well. It doesn't look like Carolina is going to play Florida in the first round. There's still a little scenario where it would, but it looks like Carolina is either going to play the Islanders, assuming Carolina wins, or the Rangers, assuming Carolina doesn't win. So that's who Carolina's opening round series is going to be. And I'm going to guess here, if it's Carolina, New York, I'll bet you that series starts Monday.

If it's Carolina Islanders, TV doesn't care. Yeah. It'll start Tuesday. Yeah. It'll start Tuesday at like 741 or something.

I have no idea. All right. Good news. Last night during the game, the Hurricanes signed a new goaltender, Quinnipiac netminder Yaniv Peretz. And I know when I first heard the name, I was like, oh, another Russian goalie. Well, no, actually he's from Quebec.

So he is French Canadian, speaks perfect English. We're actually going to talk to his coach in just a couple of minutes. He went 34, 4, and 3 this year with a 931 save percentage.

Last year, last year, they lost, I think, in the Elite Eight to Michigan. He was 22, 5, and 2 with a 939 save percentage. He's not huge, but he's not small.

He's 6'1", 190 pounds. And it gives Carolina two good goalie prospects again. They had two last year. They traded one for Brent Burns. And now they've got two goalie prospects again. He was signed to a two-year entry-level deal. So he's going to, it starts next year.

He's going to go and finish the year in Chicago playing with Pyotr Kachetkov. I don't know how much more they've got left. It's a couple of games left in the regular season. They might make the playoffs.

They might not. And then I don't know what he does. He comes up like a black ace and just kind of hangs out and gets some practice time during the playoffs as some of those guys will.

But he is super talented. And I don't know, maybe he'll play Friday, Thursday, whenever the Hurricanes play. So that was, that's a very cool thing. Carolina gets a little bit more depth at goalie, even though they don't have an AHL affiliate starting next year. We'll talk about that at some point.

All right, moving on to a couple of other things. First night of the NBA play-in tournament, play-in tournament happened last night. We had one upset, I guess, and one overtime thriller. We'll deal with the upset first. Hawks went to Miami and beat the Heat. Miami now awaits the winner of Chicago and Toronto in Toronto. And Miami will host that game. And the winner of that game will be the eighth seed. So whoever wins in Toronto tonight between the Bulls and Raptors heads to Miami.

They'll play tomorrow. And then the winner of that will become the eight seed. The Hawks are now the seven seed. And head coach Quinn Snyder and his, that's right, Quinn Snyder is now the head coach of the Hawks.

He was the head coach of the Jazz. They will head to Boston. And he talked about the challenge of facing the Celtics. They're really connected offensively. And you know, I think it's more than them just having like a lot of weapons. I think they really, they have a feel for one another and how they play together. And that you can see that the way they play.

I mean, their reads are terrific. And they've got a lot of guys that can make plays and they want to do that for one another. It makes them really, really hard to guard. You know, I think their versatility defensively, you know, is unique also. You know, some of the different lineups they can put on, you know, I don't know who the defensive player of the year will be this year, but I know Marcus Smart, you know, like I have tons, tons of respect for him.

You know, I just think he's one of those guys that is a heartbeat. And they're just really good. They are. The Celtics are really good. They're the second seed in the East. Yes. Goes without saying, there was a lot of basketball-y things in there for Quinn Snyder.

It was. Here's what we really need to know about the Celtics is that they have two of the best offensive players in the NBA, in Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown. They also have a lot of other very good players and they do, they do guard you. But something has held Boston back from time to time. It'll be interesting to see if the Hawks can get over on them.

I don't think they can. I think the Celtics will win that series. In the other playing game in the West, the Lakers needed overtime to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves. It was 108-102. By the way, we won, we won the bet on that. Yes, we had the parlay. Lakers, we had Timberwolves plus eight and a half and under 132.

Uh, so we win that. 30 points, 10 rebounds, six assists for LeBron James. He tied the game with a three, uh, three pointer late. He assisted on the go ahead, uh, three pointer by Dennis Schroeder. Uh, and then with 0.1 seconds left, Anthony Davis. Well, I should say, I don't want to say he fouled Mike Conley, but he was called for a foul on Mike Conley. Like, no offense if you're calling that. Right. I mean, I can't even explain it.

Well, I can't, I'm going to try. Mike Conley took a shot from the deep corner. He was actually behind the backboard sort of, right. He shoots, he lands, there's no contact. And Davis just kind of sort of drifts over near him and Conley bumps in him and falls down and they call it.

I'm like, what are you doing? Zero impact on the shot, zero impact on the follow through, nothing. Was there contact?

Yeah. But what I would, there is not a time in the game where that's a foul. This is not about how do you call that then that's never a foul. I don't think if that's a foul, we got a problem with a rule because he didn't impact anything. He didn't didn't impact landing, nothing, but Conley goes to the free throw line down three with 0.1 on the clock.

He hits the front rim and it trickles over and in the first free throw that he makes the other two. So we go to overtime and it was a nothing overtime. It was a boring overtime. Lakers mostly wanted at the free throw line. They had a couple of baskets early and that was that.

They played five minutes and then barely any points scored. But the Lakers move on. They will take on the Grizzlies. The Timberwolves await the winner of the game between Oklahoma City and New Orleans. That game will be in New Orleans tonight and the Timberwolves will host the winner of that game.

All right, so the Lakers needed overtime to beat Minnesota. I don't know if Tim Bontemps of ESPN is influenced by that, but he likes Memphis in the series. I still think they're an underdog to win a series based off the fact they're not going to have home court advantage and I don't really even with the injuries in the front court for Memphis.

I don't like the matchup overall for them. But but again, if you have if you have 80 and LeBron, you have a chance and that that I think is really where things sit. All right, so think about this in the West and we're gonna get to Matt Barnes, former NBA player on this. In the Western Conference, the Warriors, the defending champions, injury ravaged all year but appear as healthy as they could possibly be right now. They're the sixth seed. The Lakers, injury ravaged and freaking old, are the seventh seed. The single most popular pick, by the way, to win the West. That's at the bottom of the bracket.

Matt Barnes thinks that's interesting. I don't ever recall a season where the bottom of the Western Conference was more scary than the top. And I obviously say that was all to respect because Denver has been number one the entire season. Memphis is a young team and then, you know, I've worked for the Sacramento team.

That's my hometown team and I love the fact that they've ended their 16-year drought. But you know, playoff is all about experience and with those bottom teams, whether it's the Lakers, the Warriors, the Clippers are kind of lower. I think there's five seeds. Those are all teams that have been there and done it or have guys that have been to the top of the mountain. So I wouldn't be surprised to see some upsets in the Western Conference in the first round with possibly, you know, one or multiple top seeds, you know, dropping in the first round. Yeah, I mean, I don't even know if it would be an upset. Is it an upset? Just because the Lakers are shaded seven, is it an upset if they beat the grid?

I don't know how it's going to be looked at. I haven't seen the betting market yet, but I will go look at it. My guess is that the Lakers are probably the betting favorite.

I think the, I know the Warriors are the betting favorite against Sacramento. I know it. I know it. I know it. Against Sacramento. I know it.

I've seen the series price on that. They're not overwhelming, but they are the favorite. Again, it's what happens when you have a great team and half your team is hurt, started off playing poorly when they were healthy, then got healthy or didn't, then got hurt. I mean, they, there were times this year where it didn't look like the Warriors or the Lakers were even going to make the playoffs. And they're both right now in pretty good shape.

That would be a very interesting Western Conference semi-final series, Golden State and the Lakers. There's no question about that. Final thing I'll say before we take a break and we'll come back, Rand Pecknold, head coach of Quinnipiac, national champions of college hockey. The off-season programs have started off.

That's right. Obviously in the NFL. So we are going to watch your favorite offensive lineman lift weights. Fun. Yep. We'll talk to Darren Gant about that tomorrow. I'm sure he is thrilled that the off-season programs have begun. This is just a way for us to talk about drama with the draft, drama with Lamar Jackson, drama with Aaron Rogers. We'll get to that in a little bit.