Canes working on getting back to their game during the NYE weekend

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Visit Carvana.com or download the app to get an instant offer today. So we came out of the Christmas break. Carolina, I guess, maybe rediscovered their game or as we bring in Luke Ticot from the News and Observer, did their power play just go to another level? I mean, the power plays part of it. And if you talk to the players, they'll say, Oh, you know, we, we got back to our team game and you know, we're, we're executing on the power play. But the reality is, and Rod Brind'Amour will say this if you ask him, Pierre could check on playing better and he's not giving up terrible goals. And that's all it is. It's the same in the regular season as it is in the playoffs.

It's just not as magnified. Games are decided by special teams and goaltending. And when your goalie is not giving up incredibly bad Howler goals and your power play is clicking along at 40%, you're going to go 6-1-3 coming off of that disastrous trip through Western Canada. And on top of that, they should be better than 6-1-3 because both could check off and ran thought Ronta could be a little better.

Although Ronta has the wind in his return. The reality is the hurricanes are going to go as far as their goaltending takes them. If the power play keeps clicking at 40%, that's going to be very far. Yes, 41.7% in the last 10 games, 15 out of 36, 8 for their last 17 in the last four. It has been a heater that I don't believe we have seen since 2006 here.

Luke DeCock is joining us here. The funny thing is about in terms of we are finally getting back to their game. The numbers say otherwise that, you know, normally the possession metrics really favor Carolina. They really haven't in this in the three games coming out of Christmas. They were they were underwater in terms of possession against Toronto. They were just barely over it in games against Montreal and Nashville. So it really has been special teams and goaltending. And if you look at Kachetkoff, who is what is he 5-1-2 in his last eight starts and that includes the debacle against the Islanders here. He has been phenomenal. Yeah, I mean, I think he's been I think he's been good. I think that the key for him is he's just got to not let in the goals. He let in out west and and and part of that may have been Freddy's hurt.

We all knew that I'll be wrong. It was struggling at that point. You know, Kachetkoff may have just put too much pressure on himself at that point in time and is now relaxed a little bit and just sort of playing the game that we saw from him last year. Oh, the, you know, that, that, that he can play. He doesn't have to be great for the hurricanes to win.

He just has to be not terrible. And that sounds like not a lot to ask of a goalie, but it's the same problem. The Oilers have had the same problem. The Leafs have had the same problem.

The devils event. There are a lot of would be family cup contenders who are going through this right now. And you know, that's one reason why the hurricanes haven't made a trade. There are many reasons why the hurricanes haven't made a trade, but letting pure Kachetkoff figure some of this out and play through it is, is their best option because one, they're going to need them at some point, whether it's this year or next year or the, the foreseeable future. But two, they're not in a position like the Oilers were in where things have gone irretrievably wrong. And they were always just one good streak away from getting back to where they're supposed to be. And with the win over the Rangers tonight, they'll feel pretty good about things.

Yeah. The Rangers, by the way, you know, we talk about Carolina's power play. Luke to cock is joining us here from the news and observer and the hurricanes are in New York. Second meeting against the Rangers tonight. But the Rangers have, have only eight games all year where they have not registered a power play goal. Carolina's biggest asset right now is probably the penalty kill. And this will be a huge test for them. Yeah. I mean, we talked about special teams and goaltending and that's literally all the Rangers have.

Um, and it works very well for them and has for some time. But, uh, you know, I, I think there's that we've reached the message sending point in the season that we are on the downslope now. And the hurricanes need to start sending the message to some of these other would be contenders that they are the team they've been the past couple of years.

And you know, I don't mean sending message like fighting. I mean, get out there and outplay them and show that you're the better team. I think the hurricanes already, despite what the records say are a better team than the Rangers, which is a, you know, a very two dimensional team. I think the hurricanes have more dimension to their play when they're on their game. And this is really a chance to say, Hey, we may not have gotten off to a good start. We may not have the goaltending that you do, but we can go into your building, a building that has not been kind to the hurricanes over the years and outplay you. And I think that's out there for the hurricanes tonight. Luke to cock is joining us here.

What do you make of the, the re, uh, deployment of the S a T line? Hey, guess what? It's not as hard to start a fitness or weight loss program as you think. And I'm going to give you a hundred dollars in free home gym equipment to prove it.

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That's body with an eye.com. Yeah. I mean, it's worked, which is all the time. The problem in the past is everyone's clambered for it.

It's never produced. I mean, you know, Sebastian, I hope being first star of the week, um, doesn't sound like that big a deal. So you realize it hasn't happened for a hurricane's players since November of 2017. And I gotta be honest with you, Adam, I don't feel like the hurricanes have been a bad team since the 2017 18 season. Right.

Uh, but it's, it's, it's, it's a measure. I think, you know, one, the hurricanes, among the other things that they needed in early December, they needed Sebastian, Ajo and Andre inspection costs to get hot. And I don't know that Sebastian Ajo can maintain a 3.7 points per game pace over the rest of the year. Although we joked with Rod Brind'emore yesterday that, Hey, isn't this just kind of what you expect of him anyway?

And Brind'emore not seeing the humor in it at all said yes. Uh, which is, which is funny, but also Andre inspection called getting on track. He hasn't been the same player that we all know that. Uh, but, but it's, it's, we're starting to get close to a year since the injury. Now you would expect him to start to play with a little more freedom, a little more confidence and get some of that touchback for a guy who shoots the puck as hard and is carefully placed as he does. There's always going to be those very fine margins of missing the post or hitting the post or picking a corner.

Um, that's something that takes fine motor skills that you know, can, uh, atrophy a little bit on you when you're not doing it every day at that level. So the fact that Andre has started scoring again, um, I think is a positive sign. And as Brind'emore said, what you notice when he's on the ice, it hurts us when he's not on the ice, even when he's not scoring because of the things he does, but the hurricanes aren't built to be a successful team with Andre section called scoring 12 to 15 goals. They need him to take the next step in his career, put this injury behind him and be a 30 plus 40 goal scorer for that to really reach the potential that, that they believe that there is no question, by the way, the production of those two has got 11 points in three, but he's got seven goals, 13 assists in his last 10, uh, Andre since coming back from the latest injury, uh, five goals, five assists in those six games. A lot of their production, by the way, has come on the power play, but as a line, uh, Ajo, Svechnikov and Taravainen have been better than they have ever been in terms of production, uh, based on how many minutes. We've also seen too many, uh, too many special teams minutes. So we haven't seen them a ton together.

Let me get a couple of quick things in before we let Luke to cock go. How much of Carolina's better play of late? Can we say the emergence of Jack Drury as maybe Carolina's third best center right now has something to do with. Yeah.

I mean, I think that that's certainly helped. And he was a guy who, you know, I think was holding them back a little bit at the start of the year, um, just because they needed someone in that role who was more productive and they've had productive players in that role over the years, but he's obviously a player who has some skill and that, you know, you're kind of waiting for it to materialize at the NHL level. Was this going to be a guy who could contribute at the NHL level or be a guy who was. You know, an AHL Hall of Famer and for a ton down there.

And I don't mean that position. So, I mean, there are guys who can produce at the NHL level, and there are guys who can produce very well at the AHL level and make a good living doing it. I think that the jury, well, probably still out a little bit under it, but he certainly pushed the needle more to the NHL side of things. And that's how thought that the hurricanes have to be balanced. They are not a one line team. And especially with the amount of ice time that, that Jordan stall and yes for Fox when he's healthy and Jordan Martin would get, uh, they need the other lines to contribute. Cause that line may generate a lot of chances and it may stop the opponents from scoring, but it's just never going to score that much. So you do need contributions from your fourth line and the hurricane. You know, obviously Stefan nation has played all over the lineup, but in the end on the depth chart, he is, you know, one of your 10 11 12 forward, he's done his job. I mean, above the he's he's in the top 20 in the NHL in terms of value above replacement value, which is insane. When you think about it, um, and Jack jury has actually played a little bit of a role there in terms of a rising tide lifting all boats, but yes, I, the balance is key.

And if it wasn't going to be jury, it was going to have to be someone else. The fact that jury has kind of stepped up and started producing, driving play, um, being a reliable center, all of those things are positive signs. Luke to cock before we let you go, the value of Seth Jarvis beyond what he brings on the ice is what? I think he's got a little bit of a, a young Ray Whitney in him. He's got that sort of loose cannon personality. Uh, we'll say anything sense of humor. Uh, you know, we'll, we'll portray himself perhaps as less intelligent than he actually is sometimes to get a laugh and have the sort of comedic confidence to do that.

Um, you need those guys in your room. Jordan, Martin does that in a different way. Um, you know, he's Jordan. Martin is more of a rah rah guy, but Seth Jarvis, I think as he gets older and more confident and feels his place in the room more securely is going to be more of a needler. And man, you know, the good teams, they've got a guy who can deflate the pressure and, and, uh, turn a dark room bright, uh, with the ability to needle a teammate, right?

Whitney did that expertly on the 2016. And he wasn't the only one that had a locker room full of veteran guys who knew how to deflate a teammate's ego with an offhand comment. But I think Seth Jarvis is going to get there. And I think that's, that's his personality. And we're seeing more and more of it. His personality is an asset as well.

No question about it that the, uh, the comments after the game in Toronto are next level funny. Uh, Luke, I appreciate your time, man. I'll see you at the rink later in the week. All right. Take care of you. You're tracking your car's value today.