Canes win vs Wild, now on to Columbus

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Half the cost savings based on cost of Consumer Cellular single line 5GB data plan with unlimited talk and text compared to lowest cost single line postpaid unlimited talk text and data plan offered by T-Mobile and Verizon May 2023. What a great bump to come back with. In honor of Steph Nason's face goal, which according to our friend Walt Ruff of hurricanes.com content maestro, it's not even the first face goal Steph Nason scored in his career. Did one with the New Jersey Devils back in the day. Mike Metascalco, I'm going to say this definitively has never scored a goal with his face ever.

He might've blocked the pitch in the dirt with his face. I don't know. He joins us on the Adam Gold show, the voice of your Carolina hurricanes.

He's in Columbus. You've never scored a goal with your face. Have you does floor hockey count or deck hockey? Yeah, sure.

Why not then? Yes, I have. Oh, good for you. Did it hurt? Yeah, a little bit. I mean, it's those, those, you know, the hard plastic orange, you know, road hockey balls that, you know, and I wasn't wearing a helmet or anything.

So, but, you know, I got a hard head, so I'm fine. And it was Steph Nason who was the source. He told them that he did it with Jersey and Walt went. And as you, you mentioned content maestro was able to pick up the video and find it. So great.

I'm looking at it right now. That's a huge goal too. That's it. And whenever you score with your face, like when Justin Williams did that a few years ago, after the Brett Pesci shot, I believe down in Florida, that should count as two goals, not just as one. It's funny. I keep, I keep busting Brett's chops about it as every time I can by telling him, you know, the ultimate insult is that your slap shot hit Justin Williams in the cheek and went in and he came back and played. I think you need to go back and work on your shot, Brett. And I'm sure he gives you that.

He loves it. I will, you know, I don't have the hardest shot. It was accurate. He was aiming. He was aiming. It was a, it was a tip try.

It was great. It's a shot pass right off of Williams cheekbone. You know, Rod Brind'Amour talks about it.

He's talked about it a lot. Not a lot of puck luck. I mean, honestly, Carolina's three goals were all puck luck last night. The shot off just Jordan Martinook's back or his pants or wherever it hit fell to Jordan Stahl. The Svechnikov shot, I've seen it a thousand times now.

It wasn't even on net. And then the, the Steph Nason face goal or the visor goal. But didn't you think they got better? I thought the third period was pretty solid. Rod didn't like it, but I thought it was solid in the third period. No, I liked their first and I liked their third period in that game, especially, you know, a two, two game on the road. You got that late goal that, that ties the game in the second period, a period you didn't play. Well, that was the funny thing is I thought that the, the, the Kings were far better than Minnesota in the first period, but it's the wild who are up two to one. And I thought that the wild were better in the second period and the Kings win that period to have the game tied. So I thought they, they played a good road period in, in the third, the, the way that you have to play to win in the penalty kill again, comes up big. I mean, that's, you know, Adam, when we talk about this team this year, I think the hallmark is going to be the special teams and how the penalty kill in a lot of games really switched momentum to the cane side of things. And, and, you know, when puck luck, the one thing about it, you got to get a bounce, but you also have to put yourself in the spot to take advantage of the bounce. And that's what the team did on their three goals there last night. They got to the spots. I mean, that's a goal that's definitely.

You know, he's not dancing around. He's charging to the net at the end of a power play, you know, and that should be, we can argue, is it a power play goal or not in my mind, if you score a goal five seconds after a power play is over, there's no way the guy coming out of the box gets in position. That's still a power play goal in my mind, but, you know, Nathan scores by going to the net and then the Kings make a great play on the stretch in the cough goal. And Andre, especially the cough stays on the ice to try to get numbers on that shift and on that rush. So, you know, you make your, your own luck when you get it.

And this is a team that, you know, the bounces don't necessarily always go their way and they find a way to win. So that was pretty refreshing last night in St. Paul to get that. Mike Maniscalco is joining us, the voice of your Carolina hurricanes against Columbus last night. I think it's a radio on tomorrow night. I think it's a radio only game tomorrow, but anyway, we'll be on the radio and all of us will be on the radio. And I want to talk to you about Piotr Kacekoff.

And I know you talked to Trip about it a lot, and I've been talking to Trip throughout the day today about Piotr. He was amazing in the win over Florida. I mean, so good, you know, spectacular stand on your head type game. But in many respects, I'm not sure last night wasn't a better sign that Kacekoff had turned the corner because I thought his anticipation reading the play helped him make what otherwise would have been difficult situations look routine because as good as Minnesota was and as dangerous as they've been offensively lately, there, I mean, he didn't have to make a ton of great saves. I just think he was in position all night.

Yeah. And you know, that's the funny thing, Adam, that goalies can make a, it would normally be a great save if they're out of position and they scramble to get to it. But he makes a save on that Zuccarello late in the first period. And I'm thinking Zuccarello is going to bury this one. And Kacekoff is over there to make the play. He robbed Marco Rossi twice. One was right there on the goal line.

Matt Boldy was there. And then the one save on Capri's off where the puck it's on the power play, he mans up on him and he's in the right position. I'm with you in the first period. Again, I don't fault him on either of the goals. Yeah.

You know, the one from protein is from distance and you can say, well, what it could have, but for me, it was after that nothing comes in. And you know, for a young net minder, you got to build that, that mental wall of, okay, nothing else is getting past me here the rest of the night. And that for me is the growth this year for Piotr. I think we all know he has the skill and Paul John Felder has done an unbelievable job with working with Piotr on the tenants of being a fundamentally sound goal. I know that's so steep there, Adam, but that's a big thing when you can, when you can rely on the fundamentals and then his athletic ability can take over for the other parts of it.

You're really building something special. And I think that's where the Carolina hurricanes are right now. It's with Piotr and that was a good performance last night from him. And I'm with you building off of what he did in that Florida game.

You just want to keep stacking these wins and that's what he's been able to do. We all remember the, the first, I don't know, month, month, two months of the season and Carolina's team say percentage was at the bottom of the league. It was like in the eight seventies. It was that bad. Um, it's right.

It's just over 90% now, but since the game in Ottawa and that's the line of demarcation, not only for Kuchetkov, but for the team, the hurricanes have the best record in the NHL since that game, that win in Ottawa, um, their team save percentage is nine 10, which if you looked right now, fifth best in the NHL, if you put that nine 10, slotted it right in. So from that point on, it's not cause, so it's not just Piotr. Part of that is also Spencer Martin. You got an explanation for that? Uh, yeah, I do. There's, there's a couple of things.

Uh, one of them, and, uh, I know that we can talk about analytics and numbers all day long. If you go to the start of the year and the one thing that the canes do defensively that is better than I think than anybody in the league, they limit shots on goal. So Adam, when you're only giving up 22, 23 shots on goal again, but you're not getting those saves that you need or giving up grade eight chances in the other team and scoring four goals, five goals, uh, you're the perfect guy. I can use this analogy with, it's like a starting pitcher who gets rocked on opening day. It's going to take them until June to get his ERA back to where you're like, Oh, that's not disgusting.

Uh, so that's kind of what happened with the King's bowl tenders in October and November. And now what's happening is not only are the canes still limiting the shots, but now you're getting the saves. And for Spencer Martin, uh, we're here in Columbus. So not to go Ricky Bobby and no disrespect to the Columbus blue jackets, but for Spencer Martin playing in front of a team that doesn't have that defensive structure, doesn't play the way that the canes do. You throw him behind what Carolina does. And all he has to do is stop the puck.

He doesn't have to be Superman. He just has to stop the puck. And the amazing thing for me is Boston Vegas, the Chicago team that wants to play a little bit open and they got Connor Bedard back in that game.

And then he was, he was the reason why Carolina gets a point against Buffalo on Sunday. Uh, I just think for him, he has, it's the confidence going back the other way. I think the confidence goes from the goal out. I think for Spencer Martin going playing behind this team, I just have to get in front of the puck.

I don't have to worry about anything else. And he has been a revelation and another great, and we've talked about it, Chip and I've talked about it on the broadcast. And he says he's the Curtis McElhaney 2.0, the waiver pickup. And I really do believe that his demeanor, how he carries himself. And he just, he makes the save and he doesn't give up the big rebound at the long time. So, and the goal setting has been, as you pointed it out, the goal setting has been good. You can look at coach Chekhov, you look at Martin, they're making not just, you know, the big save, they're making the save when the games need it. Yeah. And even, I know there have been bad games and he was sent to the minor leagues, but, uh, aunty Ronta has had a lot of good moments in there and he's hurt now.

Look, uh, I don't, I don't know if you know the answer to this, and I'm not suggesting that you do. Um, but what are the chances we see Spencer Martin tomorrow, uh, against his old mates, the Columbus blue jackets? I think it's a really good chance. Um, just because he is given this coaching staff, he's given Paul, Sean Felder, the golden coach, and Rod Brindamore, every reason to give him starts and to give them these opportunities. And I, not that it's a super quick turnaround, but you know, you're going to play an afternoon game at home against Winnipeg on Saturday.

You know, why not? Why not give Piotr coach Chekhov a little bit more time to come off of that win that he has the other night? You can throw Spencer Martin in, and then you can roll with Piotr coach Chekhov against Winnipeg at home. I think that it would be honestly a coin flip, but you know, I don't make the decision, but I would not be shocked and based on practice today, uh, they both split the starter screen.

So, uh, good luck for me trying to figure it out. Uh, but I wouldn't be shocked if Spencer Martin gets to start tomorrow. Nice. Was, uh, was Freddie on the ice? Freddie was on the ice, still practicing, still getting closer. So, uh, still, there's no definitive time for, but again, you know, that's look at, look at the, the negative and we see all the stories about what the canes need and every national writer goes, goaltending. I'm like, I don't think goaltending is the one thing that the team needs right now. Uh, unless there's something that, you know, blows their socks off, but even then, uh, you get Freddie back and he, for a guy who's missed three months, he doesn't look like you've missed three months, at least in practice. So, uh, that's an encouraging thing. And then we've already talked about the other three goaltenders right now for this team.

I mean, look at some point you can't carry four. So the decisions will be made and we will discuss those at a later time. Mike Meniscalco is the voice of your Carolina hurricanes. And we will be listening to him tomorrow when the hurricanes take on the Columbus blue jackets from Columbus. And I'll see you Saturday afternoon up at, uh, up on the fifth floor.

I will see you there, Adam. Take care, man. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mike Meniscalco, the voice of your Carolina hurricanes.