The Carolina Hurricanes go into the All Star break with a winning momentum

Fancy arena Saturday night. The Hurricanes dominated the Arizona Coyotes and then needed really a miracle goal from Dmitry Orlov just to take a 2-1 lead late. We've seen too much of that lately. We'll talk a little bit about that and other things with Luke Tkach of the News and Observer who is joining us here on the Adam Gold Show. I still, from the camera angle directly behind Orlov, I still can't figure out how that puck got past Conner Ingram.

It was almost like it like apparated to use a Harry Potter-ism and ended up behind him. Maybe it took the flu network. I don't know. You have any theories? I don't and to be honest I was busy dealing with the aftermath of NC State's debacle with Syracuse when I was actually watching the game on a manager's phone in the hallway outside the locker room at 1-1 and by the time we were done talking to the players and it was, it was back out back in the room at 3-1 and it was over. So I saw the replay like everybody else.

I don't have any explanation. It's close encounters of the something but all this time when we've talked about the Hurricanes not getting puck luck or not finishing chances or shooting percentages or blah, blah, blah. This is the kind of goal that they haven't been getting the one you can't explain or the one that looks weird or the one that's a soft goal. And I think if you know, obviously this is we've said this about the team for five years now, but if that tide ever turns it's going to be a juggernaut and honestly, I think that's the reality is the fact that they're in the position. They're in with the goaltending. They've gotten is actually a minor miracle in and of itself.

But you know, beyond that, I mean, I think it's a good time for the break. You take some momentum into it. They've played really well haven't always been rewarded and figured out a way to do it with the goaltending they've gotten.

I think that's actually pretty impressive. Let's talk about the impact of the goaltending. I go back to the game in Ottawa and this is before the holiday break and it's been 21 games since that game in Ottawa. There have been by my estimation, two bad goaltending performances, one against Nashville that saw Auntie Ronta waved the next day and one against the Islanders in Carolina couldn't come back and lost 5-4. That was Kuchetkoff. But since the Ottawa game, they are 14-3 and 4 when for the most part they have got no worse than good goaltending.

Doesn't that just illustrate the difference? Yeah. I mean, and I think if you look at the numbers in terms of goals saved against expectations and all the advanced stats, the goal setting actually hasn't been that good, but it's been good enough. And that's really what matters in the NHL is, you know, that's the problem the Oilers had at the start of the year. It's the problem that the devils are still having. You know, you can, you can overcome average goaltending.

You can outscore average goals and you can get out score above average goal setting and win a bunch of games. The hurricane path, but you can't deal with bad goaltending. And obviously that's what was going on before the Ottawa game. Um, the Islanders game that you mentioned in particular, um, but they figured out a way to do it.

And I don't know that that's good enough. This tandem as currently constituted is good enough to win a Stanley cup, but it's gotten them this far and it hasn't ruined their season, which is a different situation than maybe the devils are in. Um, obviously they've probably had more top end injuries in the hurricane, um, Dougie Hamilton and so on. And he's been absolutely terrible. Um, and the Oilers was absolutely terrible and it's recovered a little bit, just like the hurricanes. But you know, I think Pierre could check out showing the ability to sort of build a game and bounce back from where he was in December and play well when healthy has been good.

And the auntie Rhonda hasn't been great every night, but he's been pretty good on some nights and good enough on the others with very few exceptions, but that's a change too. So if you can get that, if your goaltending is not killing you, it opens up a world of possibilities and your goaltending is killing you. There's not a whole lot you can do.

Yeah. And for all the people who want the hurricanes to go out and get a goaltender, we're talking with Luke to cock up the news and observer here. Uh, you gotta go get a goalie.

You have to get, they have to go trade a goalie trade for a goalie. We don't know exactly what kind of goalie they need right now. And we won't be able to determine that until we can kind of get an idea for what Piotr Kacekoff is going to show up after the all-star break. Remember last year for about six weeks, he was lights out, got hurt. By the time he got back into the lineup, he wasn't the same.

I think they have to figure out what he is because the goaltender who played from that Ottawa game until the injury against Anaheim, that was a goalie that they might not need another number one goalie. But we, so we have kind of have to wait and see, no? Yeah.

And I think what they've done more than that. Oh, I don't know. I don't hear him. Do you hear him? Did I, did we lose me? I don't think we lost me. We didn't lose me. I'm here.

It looks like he's still on, but maybe in a bad spot. We have to, uh, we have to, uh, figure out Luke to cock here, uh, who will be once again, joining us on the Adam Gold show in a second. And when we get back, I'm I'm right now, here you are. You're back. All right.

I back. Yeah, no, I, you know, you ready? Harrison rises from the ashes, you know, that, that would potentially change the equation too. But what they've done is they bought themselves time. They bought themselves time to assess where Peter could check out.

Isn't his career. They bought themselves time to assess whether auntie Ron said it can be the backup. They bought themselves time for Freddie to work through his issues. So, uh, what, you know, time is time is money in the salary cap era. The longer you can wait before making a move. Um, and quite frankly, when you look at the options that have been out there and some of the price tags attached to them, it really hasn't made sense. Um, so it's the longer you can, and they've done more than muddle through, but the longer you can muddle through it and push off this decision of whether you're decide, you're going to have to do that, uh, the more options you're going to have, the less it's going to cost you the more salary cap space you're going to have. And potentially that's the more other things you could do with the deadline. But, um, you know, I, I think that, I think that the book is still out on that, whether they need to or not, but I think they've done a really nice job, sort of buying themselves time to figure that out.

All right. So Luke to cock final thing on the hurricanes as we, uh, head into the all-star break here, and then we'll talk about, uh, Wolfpack, uh, on the other side, we'll have just a minute or so here. One thing you believe that they have to go out and get. I, you know, I don't know if they have to go out and get anything the way they've played. I think the thing that would help them both assuming the goaltending holds up is, uh, one more center, because as good of a start as you started cocaine, he had as well as jack theory has played lately. I think when you get into a playoff series and you're dealing with match-ups and things like that, I think they could use one more, one more body down the middle.

That's a legit NHL top six to nine center. So it didn't sound to me like you were describing Elias Lindholm. I always say, what did, what did they need? And I do the best I can to describe. I always say they need a right-handed sentiment who can play in all situations, uh, and used to play here from Sweden.

Uh, so that, that's how I do it. That would be great. Um, but I don't know that that's a re that's realistic to expect that given the, you know, the contract situation and all that. And I don't know that it makes the most sense for Elias Lindholm quite frankly. Um, you know, he's going to want to pick his spots. He's probably not going to be a star here on this team. He might next year, but the opportunities here may not be as great.

He's he would be coming here to add to a team, not to carry a team himself. I understand. Uh, I still want to describe it as Elias Lindam. It's my fantasy. Uh, let, let, let, let me have that much. All right. To, to the Wolf back.

I talked about them earlier. Um, half court offense and half court defense has just been woeful. They didn't build on the wind over wake forest, especially the way, the way they played in the second half in that game.

Um, and it's getting late early to coin a Yogi Berra ism for the Wolf bag. They have to figure out a way to get some wins. They have to distinguish themselves from the rest of the middle of the ACC.

What are you seeing from them? Yeah, it's just lost their way. Uh, the question after the Syracuse game for me was, uh, not so much is it season saving time, but is it too late? Um, I don't think it is with 11 games to go in the ACC and some big games ahead, but they got to figure things out. They got to get back to the way they were playing, uh, early in the ACC schedule when they weren't turning the ball over when they were guarding people, uh, when they weren't falling for the same Benny Williams baseline cut 17 times in the same game. And when they were quite frankly making shots, you know, Sydney will try to make shots. You're just not going to win many games, scoring 15, 22 points in the first half. When you make six field goals, the math just doesn't work. So they've got to figure out a way that, and I don't think it's there because I don't think it was necessarily bad shots the way it was like at Notre Dame where they took a million long two point jumpers. Uh, they got to make shots and then they got to play defense when their shots aren't falling. So they don't fall behind by 18 points. Like they did at Syracuse, let the crowd get into the game. And then it was an uphill battle.

And it was Kevin keeps it afterwards. Like, look, I'm, I'm not, I'm tired of coming in here and complimenting them for their fight. We got to start winning games, not patting ourselves on the back for coming back at almost.

Yeah. The, uh, the fight at Virginia was admirable, right? But, uh, but they ended up losing the game in overtime anyway. They, but getting off to such bad starts is just killing them. And, you know, in, in some ways I go back to the game at North Carolina, which, uh, not at, but at, uh, against North Carolina at PNC arena, which in some ways was cold water was like the ice water in the face, because I thought, especially the way the early part of the game, they weren't playing their game, but they were right there. And I felt like in the second half, there was an opportunity for them to take that game.

And they just rushed everything. They played poured. I actually thought their half court defense was good in that game until it got away from them, but they're, they rushed everything offensively. Uh, they, they couldn't finish off possessions on the defensive glass. I thought that in some ways really hurt them. Yeah. The flip side to that is, uh, until the last few, uh, five to seven minutes, whatever it was, they kept up with North Carolina, you know, they kept it, you know, North Carolina would start to pull away a little bit.

They would pull them back. So, and then, you know, we've seen what North Carolina has done to other teams this year. I don't think there's any doubt, uh, what we're looking at with North Carolina. So I actually thought until they, the Wolfpack sort of wilted in late. And I really thought that had more to do with, honestly, with UNC, uh, being a better team, quite frankly. I mean, I think they just sort of got outplayed at the end because UNC is deeper and stronger and has more guys who can do more things.

But I actually, I don't, I thought the cold water performance of anything was the absolute no-show at home against Virginia tech, the slow start of the problems. They just got beat at home. And I think that shook their confidence a little bit. I think there should, it shook their confidence at Virginia and they should have come out of the Virginia game with it rebuilt the way they forced overtime. And instead they went into Syracuse and played what was probably their worst game of the year. So, uh, there was some confidence rebuilding, you know, DJ birds has not been good.

They maintain he's not injured despite the fact he never sits on the bench and didn't start a Syracuse. Um, but they got DJ horns got to make shots. Jayden Taylor's got to make shots. Casey Morsell got to make shots and they got to find a way to get DJ burns back to at least threatening to score 20 points because you know, 10 and seven is just, they're not built to win with DJ burns, putting up those kinds of numbers.

North Carolina can win. If Armando Baker has nine and six, they're going to be, they're, they're fine. They don't need them to score 35 points every night. NC state needs more out of DJ burns. Some of it is teams have figured out how to stop him. And some of it, I think is his decision-making hasn't been good this year.

And he's got to get back to doing what he does. I actually think I, I'm not sure he's a net positive to them because I think he hurts their defense. And I mean, I love DJ burns, but I think he's more of a designated hitter than he is somebody who can be a 30 minute player, uh, in the ACC, especially I kind of like middle Brooks and D'arra. I think you can play them together, but I mean, I don't know.

I just, they have to get their half court offense and defense, uh, play it a whole lot better. Otherwise, again, it's getting later. Luke to cock of the news and observer. I appreciate your time. My friend at Luke to cock on Twitter. I'll talk to you soon. All right. You got it.