Mr. Svechnikov (8/3/20)

With a 4-1 win this afternoon, your Carolina Hurricanes are just one win away from advancing through the first ever qualifying round of the Stanley Cup playoffs against opponent to be determined. And growing up having a brother who was nearly two years older than me, I understand exactly what the Canes are putting the Rangers through. Carolina, I'm not sure if you get this feeling Robert, they are treating New York like its little brother. Just wailing on them, giving them wet willies, acting like they don't belong on the ice with them.

In fact, that last part isn't much conjecture. Carolina and Tampa Bay, they were the only two teams voting against this format. Carolina feeling like they don't deserve to play essentially an extra playoff series. And it almost seems like Carolina came onto the ice on Saturday with that mindset of proving they don't belong with New York. New York is not on the same level as Carolina and they've left little doubt.

Game one, never felt in doubt. Carolina scoring in the first minute of the game. Justin Williams getting into a fight. Special teams looking really good.

Physical hits. Brady Shea. Game two, Carolina didn't dominate New York in play, but they have a guy named Andrei Svetchnikov who stepped in and made a little history scoring the first ever hat trick in Hartford Whalers slash Carolina Hurricanes history. Jordan Martinuk, what do you have to say about that? How do you feel Robert about that being a drop during this entire playoffs?

The same way for Tar Heel basketball during the entire season. We played this every time I mentioned Armando Baycots. That's cool with me.

It's a little extra work. Got to find a button for it. So it's a big day for Andrei Svetchnikov.

I'm probably going to take that scream out of it and just make it Mr. Smash. Smash Smash.

Smash Smash Smash. Yeah. Andrei Svetchnikov.

He's pretty darn good. That guy. See, now we're just going to beat a dead horse. Are we just going to do this all day and just play it over and over again until people don't like it? Who? When we're talking?

Yeah, that guy. I think that's what we're going to do. I think we're just going to beat that into the dirt. Would anybody have issue if that's all we played on a loop for three hours? Maybe four.

On Twitter at sportsubtriad 336-777-1600 is the number. Gosh, they're just relentlessly beating up the Rangers. First three minutes of that game one I mentioned, but the opening five minutes of today's game jumping out. The first three minutes of the second period scoring two goals. And then our guy, Robert, our guy, and in case you forgot who that guy is.

Mr. Smachnifov. Scoring to make it four to one. It was just an incredible display of forechecking, an incredible display of wearing the opposition out. The Canes, they play hockey the way Nolan Richardson played basketball or had his team play basketball 40 minutes of hell with Arkansas way back when. This team, it just doesn't believe they belong on the ice with New York and they're up two games to nothing. They look really damn good and we're excited. It's going to be a really quick turnaround. They're not going to have a full day off. They're playing tomorrow at eight o'clock as Carolina looks to wrap things up in Toronto. You could tweet us.

At sportsubtriad, as I mentioned, 336-777-1600 is the number. Your reaction to the hurricanes going up two games to nothing on New York. Robert produced today's show. He's learning about hockey day by day, starting to get into this when he said originally he was going to watch none of this series whatsoever. In the NFL, the other news we're reacting to today, the Panthers have had their first significant player opt out of the season. Christian Miller, 2019 second round pick out of Alabama, edge rusher. He is opting out of the season. He joins an undrafted rookie last week who decided as well that they weren't just going to play ball this year.

And there are a lot of reasons guys are opting out. Miller put out a statement saying quote, after a lot of thought and prayer, I've decided to high risk opt out. This was an emotional and extremely tough decision for me, but one that I ultimately feel is the right and safest decision for me and my family. I am proud to be a Panther. I'm genuinely excited about the direction we were going in under coach rule and his staff. I wish the entire organization nothing but the best for 2020.

And I can't wait to rejoin them in 2021, hashtag keep pounding. As much as I was excited for what Miller brings to Carolina and trying to figure out where exactly the Panthers are going to get a pass rush from this year, this feels like the Panthers have dodged a bullet. Having only one guy opt out on a team that isn't supposed to be any good, I think that's a win for Carolina. They could not afford to lose any starters. Miller was not a starter. Brian Burns was going to start at that spot. Stephen Weatherly on the other side will wait and see what Ytter Grossmatos out of Penn State turns out to be. Really we're all off season, hasn't got much reps, didn't have the conventional OTAs, not going to have any preseason games. So that's probably going to stunt some of these rookies development. But Carolina, it's the most important stat I can bring to you right now. They are last place in returning snaps in the entire NFL. There would have been suitable reasons for guys to opt out too. We noted that Taylor Moten has a newborn, Curtis Samuel, an irregular heartbeat. The recently acquired Russell Okun at left tackle, he had a pulmonary embolism last year.

So you know guys took a good hard look at it before deciding to opt in. Losing Krista Miller, it's a blow, but I still think many Panther fans and people inside that building are breathing a massive sigh of relief because it could have been a lot worse. The Panthers, I got to give them credit. The NFL, I got to give them credit. It's not a popular thing to do, to give the National Football League any points on anything, especially Roger Goodell, but they've made most of the players feel safe.

Even though it isn't a bubble and Major League Baseball is having its fair share of issues not being in a bubble. I heard the way that KK Short described what happens when he goes to the facility every day. And it's a lot more stringent, it's a lot more careful than what I've seen described in Major League Baseball as they try to tighten things up on the go. KK said they don't let him into the parking lot if he doesn't have a mask on. Once he gets out of his car, they do a test. Before he gets to the door, they do another test. Then they check his temperature and have him fill out a survey about his symptoms that given day before he gets access to the locker room. That's what KK told us yesterday. I think the headlines, they could be a lot worse than what they've been. Like simple math tells us, if the national testing rate is 8% of those tested test positive, you would be looking at hundreds of cases for National Football League players.

You're talking about 90 heading into camp, Carolina already shedding its roster to 80. You're talking about hundreds upon hundreds of guys going into these facilities and getting tested. You should have hundreds of tests, right? Well, we haven't seen that so far. So it seems these guys have been responsible taking care of their bodies, doing what's asked of them. And the procedures seem to be pretty strict. These guys seem to be pretty well protected. Now, Carolina needs to avoid injuries. That's a big if. Hey, if Carolina can stay healthy going into week one, they might maybe catch the Las Vegas Raiders off guard because, hey, what is Las Vegas looking at to prepare for Teddy and this offense with Joe Brady and Matt Ruhle and this Panthers defense with Phil Snow, Robbie Anderson and these weapons brought in?

You gotta stay healthy. This is the one big positive about preseason not happening. It hurts Carolina, especially because they have a lot of young guys, they don't get the reps, but the positive is, well, those are harder to control. It's harder to control the reps you get in a preseason game than the drills you participate in and practice. You see less injuries in the drills than you do in preseason games. Now there still are injuries. I think Darrell Williams, we saw that a year ago. We saw the injuries. I mean, it happens almost every single year.

When the Panthers went to the Super Bowl, Kelvin Benjamin, he was running around and then just came up limping and Phil had the knee injury out for that year. Carolina is going to have to dodge another bullet if they somehow want to be a competitive team this year. They dodged the bullet with the opt-outs, even though Christian Miller is a guy you'd like to have.

It could have been a lot worse. Now we'll wait and see just how healthy Carolina is at about this time next month. In 15 minutes, we're going to be joined by longtime Panthers analyst Jim Zocchi from the Panthers Radio Network. But coming up, the bold new strategy for Zion and the Pelicans.

This is a Monday Drive. NFL football, much like everything the last few months, is going to look differently in the age of coronavirus. The Panthers just posted an image on their social media of Teddy Bridgewater wearing a mask handing off to Christian McCaffrey for the first time. And even with Teddy wearing a mask, it just gets me excited knowing that there is still NFL football scheduled in the next month and it's right around the corner.

So we want to welcome in the longtime color analyst for Panthers football on the Panthers Radio Network, Jim Zocchi, kind enough to join us from the Queen City. Here's how KK yesterday described the protocol to me for what they face day to day. He was talking about when he gets into the parking lot, they make sure you have a mask on. You can't get into the parking lot without a mask.

Then you get checked at your car and then get checked again before you walk inside the door and at the door you get a temperature check and a survey for your symptoms that given day. That's just to get around other guys in the building. So you're closer to it than I am. How much more do you know about what these guys are facing on a day to day basis, Jim? Yeah, you know, we've been on these Zoom calls with you and other Josh with the players and you know, Marty Hurney detailing it today and they're just being, you know, triple safe.

I mean, Matt Rule said, you know, it's 60, but they're doing eight feet. And so I think they're trying to be even more cautious than maybe even what is recommended just because of what it is. It's a fragile football season for this league and for this team and everybody out there. And you don't want to spread it around. So that's it's just as you said, it's kind of the state of what things are.

People are pretty accustomed now to what protocols are here. But when it comes to something like the NFL and athletes like that, you definitely want to be extra cautious for them and their families. So let's talk about that Christian McCaffrey guy. He gets just a ton of usage last year. A thousand receiving yards, a thousand rushing yards. That's only been done a handful of times in NFL history. Now, Christian gets this massive contract extension and Carolina has been pretty upfront that they're trying to rebuild. They're trying to build for the future. David Tapper when he let go, Ron Rivera that day even said, if you think this is going to get fixed in one year, I want to introduce you to other people I know.

Here's the Easter Bunny and other people that you might want to be associated with. But in what ways do you suspect McCaffrey's usage will be different? And if it is, how might he be spelled? I think the reality is we've not really gotten to see football in the field. It's been Zoom meetings. It's been things that they can't really show to this point.

It's not training camp in Spartanburg where you can eyeball it and see. So with a new offense, with what Joe Brady's bringing, what Matt Roll has got planned as a head coach, I think McCaffrey has shown he can be versatile, as you just said, as a receiver and a running back. You put him in a slot, obviously. Workhorse has a running back. So they're going to utilize him as much as he's been utilized. He's a young guy. He can handle it depending on a lot of money. So that's going to happen there, too.

But I think they'll be smart and they'll be safe. I mean, you got Reggie Bonifant with a season under his belt from last year and yet opportunities where he could show what he could do running the ball a little bit. And maybe Jordan Scarlett who got on the roster last year as a rookie or Mike Davis might get a little bit of action. But it's going to be McCaffrey the centerpiece.

That's why you pay him that kind of money there to to be that guy. And I think, you know, what we might see is a little bit of a handcuff with Curtis Samuel being more of a receiver, obviously. But you know, at Ohio State played a lot of running back there. And I think they've been talking a little bit more about maybe that spelling, if you will, a little bit of Chris McCaffrey's time might come from seeing a little bit more of Curtis Samuel in different ways. You got it runs the ball, not just catching it.

Yeah. Curtis Samuel has one year left in his contract. If you're looking for somebody who takes the biggest step forward this year on the Panthers offense, could you do much better than Curtis if it means more touches in the backfield and being a part of this offense that we know is going to be wide receiver friendly? It seems like both Brady and Rule light up in the zoom conferences when they're asked about Samuel and almost feel like without saying it, like he's been underutilized. And I will say his first two years he came out of the training camp gate injured. So that you know, that happened his rookie year happened his second year. And I think there was a little bit of development stunt that went on early on there with him. And then last year he got rolling a little bit. So when he's healthy, and he's a smaller guy, maybe you know, he just you've got to use him where you get an open field and hopefully he just stays healthy.

But that's what they want. They want versatile guys with speed, quickness, hard to figure out how they'll be lined up, how they'll use them. And again, without seeing Joe Brady's offense, but we know it's got a lot of that New Orleans Saints kind of flavor to it.

You know, we've seen that so many times through the years with Alvin Kamara and the running backs and the way that they've used up through history down there is that they like the smaller backs that are out of the backfield that are very productive that way. On Twitter at Jim Zocchi. He is a color analyst for the Panthers Radio Network, of course, with us on sports hub Triad. Give me the non COVID headline going into training camp that intrigues Jim Zocchi the most. You know, for me, I think, you know, the headline is going to be, you know, Teddy Bridgewater. That's going to be what's the headline? So Cam Newton's gone Teddy Bridgewater. How's he going to be as a quarterback after having Cam Newton here for all this time for nine years?

So to me, that's that's the headline story. How's this going to look with this offense and Teddy Bridgewater running it and you're on that zoom conference today. And you know, Teddy is so confident either.

You just hear he just loses leadership. Joe Brady talked before about their times where Bridgewater takes over these offensive meetings because he knows the offense really well from being in New Orleans the last two years behind Drew Brees and then running it for five games last year. So, you know, quarterbacks the biggest position in the league. The huge headline story at the Panthers has been Cam Newton the past couple years truly. So the guy that replaces him Teddy Bridgewater who used the word honored in terms of following Cam Newton today in that press conference. So that to me is probably the number one thing and what'll you know, can they can they build on Teddy's got a three-year deal or is he a bridge with you will a Bridgewater bridge to something else a young guy that they might get drafted the next year or two. I hope you're staying safe in the Queen City, Jim.

It's just good to hear your voice and I'm looking forward to hearing a lot more of it. Maybe since we don't have preseason ball. We're not going to hear it in that context, but game one Vegas Raiders Carolina Panthers God willing.

We're going to have that in about a month. Thanks for doing this. Jim. You got it. Thanks Josh.

There you go. He's on Twitter again at Jim's Oakey from the Panthers radio network providing you with the latest sports news commentary and analysis plus tips on how to cheat at bingo. You're on the drive with Josh Graham on sports hub triad. Get your hot takes in right now.

I see Roberts on the phone fielding some of the calls 336-777-1600. Let's get crazy. We suspend journalistic integrity for 10 minutes each week.

The takes we will not judge them for being too hot, but we will judge them if they're not hot enough. One of our favorite segments of the week and you can play along with us at 336-777-1600 before we do this. The Carolina Hurricanes are doing something really cool right now. Robert, as you know, Andrei Svechnikov earlier today, he had the first hat trick in Carolina Hurricanes postseason history actually in franchise history.

So that dates back to the Hartford days as well. Congratulations to the Canes Mr. Svechnikov. On social media, I'm seeing that the Canes players, it's probably the first hat trick in Canes history to not have any hats thrown on the ice because there are no fans at the games. So the Canes players all grabbed as many hats as they had in the locker room and they put it in Svechnikov's stall and the Canes right now on their social media at Canes are requesting you to send videos of yourself throwing hats on the ground and there are a ton of replies. It's one of the cooler things I'm seeing on the internet right now and it's all in honor of the guy who just had a hat trick in the postseason to put the Canes up two to nothing in a best of five series.

It's all really cool. Do those fans get their hats back? There is one guy who threw it out of his car window and it seemed he's on the highway.

Hopefully he's listening to the show. No, I mean like fans. When there are usually fans at the game, do they throw the hats on the ice? Do they throw them on the ground? Oh, you throw it on the ice, you do not get your hat back. Oh, so this is all a marketing ploy by the Hurricanes to sell more hats. Well, no, it doesn't matter what kind of hat it is. Any kind of hat will do. So what do they do with all those hats?

I think they give it to charity. How do you know those people didn't have lice? Hats are like mattresses. I wouldn't want somebody's hat. This is a terrible idea. This is not sanitary at all. If you're in your car right now and you have a hat on, don't throw it out of your window.

That's littering. Don't do that. That's what I was about to say, Robert. Yes, you should not do that and you should not videotape it because that's also incredibly dangerous. Don't do that.

Speaking of things that might be dangerous, let's get crazy. I rarely do this, but let's kick things off by going to the phones. What's this guy's name, Robert? HHL. HHL in Thomasville.

What do you have? Let's get crazy. That's right, brother. It is I, the HHL, the human.

Oh my God. It is the man, the man, the living legend himself. And brother, I've been away for a while. You see when sports took their little hiatus, the human highlighter didn't have a lot to say. So I've been busy living the high life on a tropical low time. But now that sports are back, woo! So is the HHL brother. And I'm here to tell you, the two, the Dodgers, they're on a mission. They've already rolled through Houston and showed them what's what. Now, they're going to continue on this shortened season.

And this, my brother, will be the first of four consecutive World Series titles for Miffy and myself as the Dynasty of the Tweeters. I love the human highlighter. Robert, this is your introduction to him.

I talked to him on the phone and he was the same energy level he is right now. Yes, the human highlighter. There are only two people that we will, two callers, I should say, that we will give the platform to at any point, regardless of what we're doing. The human highlighter is one of those and the other is, of course, our friend Mike from Elkin. Turpentine Mike. See, there is a Mike from Elkin and then there is a turpentine Mike. I met Mike from Elkin that wasn't turpentine Mike. I've met him a couple of times. We appreciate you, Mike and Elkin. Turpentine Mike and the human highlighter always deliver.

336-7717-1600. Robert, this might be controversial. I'm just going to go ahead and say it. Harry Potter, that series is better than Star Wars.

Woof. I'm taking Harry Potter over Star Wars and this is my reasoning. Books elevate things. I didn't read the 6th and 7th Harry Potter books because the movies caught up but the books elevated my enjoyment of watching the movies. You don't have that same experience with Star Wars and also, I like the quartet of characters that remain consistent throughout all seven or I guess it's eight of the movies.

You don't have that in the Star Wars films either because it's splintered in new Star Wars versus old Star Wars. So I'm getting more movies. They're all high quality and you have the same characters, Robert. Same actors throughout the entire thing from Rupert Grint. I forget who plays Harry Potter. His name slips my mind. This is really going to... Daniel Radcliffe. There you go. Emma Watson.

You have those three. You got the same guy who plays Snape during the entire thing. Hagrid. Yeah, Dumbledore. Dumbledore's the same in all of them. Actually, I don't think so. I think there actually was a different Dumbledore because the guy who played him in the first and second one, I think he died.

Ah, damn. Give me Harry Potter over Star Wars over the weekend Sarah Bradford bought from Tart Sweets in Winston-Salem. What's Cedric's last name? Diggory? Duggory.

You love these movies so much. It's Diggory I think. I don't think so. You might want to double check that one, buddy.

I don't know. You said somebody's name incorrectly yesterday on your snack preview. Is that right? Yeah. Well, I think it might have been misspelled. But anyway, there was some great fudge. There was some... I haven't tasted the macaroons yet, but it's Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Macaroons.

And you got like Mandrake cake cups. Oh, it's all fantastic. Robert, let's get crazy. Today, The Rock was a part of a purchasing group that bought the XFL for $15 million. The XFL is going to be back better than ever. It's going to include multiple stars from WWE's past. Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold, John Cena, and it is going to be better than any other secondary tier football market team we've ever seen. Better than the USFL.

Better than all of those guys. Is it going to come back next year or 2021? Probably 21, I would imagine. Or next year is 21. 22. 22.

Either way. Got to get the year straight. Let's go to Jason and Clemons. Jason, let's get crazy. Well, dude, we are currently under a...

Hold on. We're currently under a tropical... Well, a flash flood watch, rather. And so, we've got this nasty storm it's coming through.

And it's hitting the area of Wilmington. And so, I don't know how this is going to affect things. All right.

Do you have a hot take? This is crazy, though. Yeah. All right, Jason. Thank you for the phone call. I appreciate that. And there you go.

Yeah. We'll see what happens with the storm. Hopefully, everybody's safe. I thought he was saying the thing was going off in his phone. That explains the laughter. When you get the flash flood thing, regardless if you're on a call or not, the thing starts going in your ear. You know that feeling when you're just in a quiet room and then the flash flood thing happens on your phone? Everybody stays safe. That goes without saying. An amber alert, anything like that that makes your phone act up.

All right. Shaq Thompson, Pro Bowler. Somebody's got to get those tackles. It's going to be the Kevin Love season.

Like, Kevin Love all those years in Minnesota was a Pro Bowler because he essentially got all those points for Minnesota. Nobody else is going to score those points. Shaq Thompson, he's going to get a lot of those tackles that Luke Geekley would have gotten otherwise. And I think the numbers are going to be good enough to justify him getting into the Pro Bowl. So that might surprise you. I think he's really damn good.

And this year, I think the numbers are going to back it up, even though the team's going to give up a lot of points. Shaq Thompson, Pro Bowler. Robert, let's get crazy.

Let's go rapid fire real quickly. Any movie that you watch with your girlfriend and she falls asleep is a good movie. I watched Rosemary's Baby Nightcrawler, a bunch of movies this weekend, and she did not stay awake for any of them. The one movie she did stay awake for, Will Ferrell's new movie on Netflix, Eurostar. Eurovision?

Eurovision, whatever it was. I fell asleep during it. It wasn't great. Kind of funny, but not on the level of great movies. You like Nightcrawler? With Jake Gyllenhaal? Yeah, it was a good movie.

I didn't really like that movie that much. Hot take rapid fire. Portland will take the eight seat and take the Lakers to seven games. That lineup looks scary with Dame, CJ, and former Duke star Gary Trent Jr. Just a lot of shooting there, even though they lost to Boston yesterday.

I like the way it looked. Robert, close us out real quick. Let's get crazy. The Heat are going to come out of the East and they are going to win the NBA championship this year.

Whoa! Even though they lost to the Raptors today, they pushed them to the limit. I think they've got a lot of different talent spread out against that team. They're pretty deep. I don't know why none starting, but they got Gorgon to back him up.

He dropped 25. They had over 50 bench points tonight and a loss, but the Heat are looking good. And that's been Let's Get Crazy.

As a younger brother, I can definitely relate to what the Canes are putting the Rangers through right now. I'll explain next on the drive. There is so much going on right now, but there's only two things related to this conversation that's about to happen that I think you need to know about right now. Robert, he picks fun at me because at the end of interviews, when I say thank you, I have a tick where sometimes I say that someone is the absolute best.

And if I do that so often, how can someone be the absolute best? Twelve different people, that is. I would describe the absolute best being our next guest, Mike Maniscalco. And I'm saying that to butter him up because of the second thing where he is upset with me right now. There is real tension on the show after the Canes got their win today.

4-1 against the New York Rangers. Mike was on the call with Tripp Tracy and Abby LeBar on Fox Sports Carolinas. Mike, I appreciate you fulfilling this opportunity to be on the show and fulfilling this time slot that you said you would spend with us even though there is real tension between us right now. Well, one, you left Shane Willis out of that.

And I get that Shane isn't on Twitter and therefore cannot further your brand. But two, I do not call your phone when I know that you're in the middle of the job. That's professional courtesy. Now, if it were Michael Kay from ESPN New York calling me while I was on the broadcast today, if it might have been Dan Patrick, sure, would have picked up the phone for them.

But I see Josh Graham calling me at 1 24 in the middle of the Carolina Hurricanes, New York Rangers game. And I'm thinking you might be in serious trouble. And then you tell me that you're just passing my number onto your producer. Like, seriously, that's that's what's going on.

I'm doing real work here, Josh. And I can only I don't know if you understand there's there's a certain circumstance going around with me doing the play by play for the hurricanes right now and getting a phone call from you. I'm thinking you need me at least my help.

You're in a situation of predicament. But then I realized that maybe Colin Cowherd would have called you and gotten you out of that trouble and therefore I'm irrelevant. Or maybe I was like fifth on the speed dial and that's how you got to me. I wasn't sure. I was frightened. But then I realized that you pocket dialed me, which in today's day and age is almost damn near impossible, Graham.

But I made a commitment and here I am. Let's just move forward. What can you tell us about the setup that you're looking at at PNC Arena broadcasting these games in Toronto that maybe we can't appreciate just by watching as we normally would on Fox Sports Carolina? The only thing I can tell you is, honestly, I'm watching the game as everybody at home is. And the feed that I'm getting might be maybe slightly ahead of the call that you get, but not by a terrific amount. So basically, we're all watching the game on TV at real time as I'm calling it.

It's being broadcast to everybody. There are three monitors. One monitor is set up with all the graphics and things that we'll be coming up with. But then I have two other monitors, one that can show me the all 12 view, which means it shows the whole life. But I don't know where they they might have put this camera at the top of the CN Tower because it seems so far away from the ice. It's kind of hard.

You can't really pick up the play off of it. So I have to go with what the director is giving me on that feed. And what our producer, Jim Malia, who is the best in the business, they're showing me and just following along the action with you guys.

Follow Mike Maniscalco on Twitter at Mike Maniscalco, so maybe he can help further your brand. What's the most impressive thing the Canes have done the last two games of a penalty killing? Without a doubt, it has been almost letter perfect. They allowed a power play goal today to our Temi Panarin, one that Peter Mrazek got a glove to on a cross crease pass. And that that came out of five on three, Josh. So the penalty killing for these first two games has just been 100 percent locked into place. And then a one B for me, therefore check has been as intense as I have seen it during any stretch of time during the Rod Brandon Moore era. They are giving the Rangers almost no time to move the puck out of their zone and it is leading to a lot of great offensive chances. How surprised would you be if New York doesn't make a goaltending change between games two and three, which is set to happen tomorrow at eight?

It depends on what the move is. Now, if Igor Shostakin is cleared to play the young man who went 10 and two during the regular season, if he's healthy and he's unfit to play. And as you know, the NHL has released that in the postseason. They're just going to say, if you're hurt, you're unfit to play. And then we're all left guessing, well, is that anything to do with COVID or an injury?

In this case, we heard it was an injury from practice for Shostakin. If it's him, if he's cleared to play, I wouldn't be shocked if they go to Alexander Georgiev, who's also a very good goaltender. I would be a little bit more surprised, but I think that Henrik Lundquist hasn't been the problem. I think Henrik was really good in game one.

Today, there's a couple he'd want back, clearly the first goal that Andrei Svechnikov scored on route to a hat trick. But this hasn't been the fault of Henrik Lundquist. This is the fact that the Rangers have only scored three goals in two games. And the Canes defense has really just taken any of the life that the Rangers offense normally has against Carolina and taken it away. So maybe if you're David Quinn, you do it just to shake things up and try to get a response out of your team.

But it depends. So to give you the shorter answer, if Shostakin can go, wouldn't be surprised at all. But if they go to Georgiev, I'd be mildly surprised if they make that change.

Normally you're talking about having a day off and then playing the next day and sometimes in a normal year when you're not all in the same location and you're traveling, you get an extra day for travel during playoff series. Considering this game is tomorrow at 8 o'clock and Rob Brindamore, I think he even told us last week that when they choose their goaltender, they're going to try and ride the hot hand. But don't be surprised if the other guy doesn't get in there. Is there any chance with this being a quick turnaround that James Reimer gets in the net tomorrow night? Yeah, there's definitely a chance because Rod Brindamore listens to his goaltender coach. And last year it was Mike Bells.

This year it's Jason Yazzotti. And if they feel that James Reimer gives them the better chance to close out this series and they want to give Peter Mrazek a bit of a break, then they would do that. But I think the fact that Mrazek has been so sharp, how good he was today and the fact it's 32 hours between games, Josh, I'd be, I'd be more surprised at the canes making the goal tending change for game three than the Rangers. I think you've got to go back to Peter Mrazek.

If he tells you he could play and you go from there and take his word for it. Now, if this series was one, one, maybe you turn to James Reimer, but the fact that the canes are going for the close and this best of five in the qualifier, you can turn back to Peter Mrazek because you do have that extra eight hours and there is no travel involved with this. And I, I think while he was tested early today, he hasn't been over taxed in these two games by the Rangers. It's Mike Maniscalco, Fox Sports Carolina's joining us on the call for canes Rangers again tomorrow night, eight o'clock, not Wednesday is the next time that the canes will be on the ice trying to close things out. And this qualifying series, it's crazy to think Mike, that the season started way back in October and this season has had its fair share of uncomfortable circumstances for you personally. Of course, you had everything you went through on that road trip out West and you, you got this outpouring of love from the fans, of course, but also players in the locker room to Dougie Hamilton on the broadcast saying that he scored a goal for you. And now here in the playoffs, you're getting a tremendous opportunity personally to broadcast these games, but I know how close you are with Jon Forslund and how much we love him as well.

So I imagine, I'll use the word again, it's, it's an uncomfortable circumstance, but how, how do you best try to maneuver through these waters, especially considering how much canes fans are rooting for you and supporting you as you do it? Well, I mean, it's bittersweet, Josh. I mean, it would be like anything that you and I are good friends. And if an opportunity came for you where something happened in my role, where you had a chance to further your career, it's tough because it's your friend. You don't want to feel that you're getting a situation while something negative is happening to your friend.

And that's not, you know, a hundred percent the case here. I'm not going to go down that road. It's just, you know, contracts and things happen in sports and you move on to it, but it's, it's a little bit bittersweet for me, but it's an opportunity. And what I've, I've, when people have asked me about this, it's, you know, Lou Gehrig and Wally Pipp were friends, you know, they, he, you didn't want to, you know, go and say, well, this is what happened.

Nobody's cheering for these things to happen. I certainly wasn't that I was quite happy with the role, but this is what happened. And you know, the canes approached me if I could do the, the play by play and the way that it's the playoffs, the way that this team plays, you know, I'm excited for the chance and that's, you know, what, what you're looking for, Josh, that's it for me.

I'm, I'm focusing on, on doing the playoffs and hopefully doing the best job I can. And it would go from there and, and that's it. That's, that's what's happened. And that's that, you know, when, when one door closes for somebody, maybe it opens up for somebody else. And that's, that's where I have to look at this and look, we all know how, how good John is.

He's going to go wherever he wants to go and we're all going to be cheering for him. And I know I am. So that's how it plays out. But for me, honestly, Josh, it really just comes down to, I have a job to do and I'm going to do it to the best of my ability.

I'll leave you with this. In baseball and in the NFL, as baseball just started to try and get things off the ground and they've had their fair share of troubles, the NFL going through training camp, they're going to face some issues as well. It's, it's hard to ignore the COVID aspects of things. And the NHL after this successful weekend and after watching the NBA for the last few days as well, it's, it's crazy to think, but there are moments I watch even as it's an empty arena with the way the action goes and the sounds of the ice and the sounds of the screeches of a basketball floor, I kind of forget that COVID is even happening. And I wonder just how much trying to stay in touch with the canes and watching what's happening in Toronto, how nervous you still are that at any point this could be uprooted.

Well, absolutely. But the one thing that the NBA and the NHL have done way, way better than major league baseball is they created bubbles and they work and you know, they have kept the, the contact with the outside world as much as that you're going to have it to a minimum. You know, it's only necessary contact with people who aren't deemed necessary to the team. So as long as they keep that up, I have no reason to believe that this isn't going to work. And for me, the NHL players have taken this to the next level as far as caution and care. When you have thousands and thousands of tests done in the phase three that the NHL rolled out, where you had players in their home cities getting ready for this with their two week training camp and nobody tests positive during that stretch as they get ready to go into phase four, that just has to tell you the commitment that they have in the plan when you execute and have a plan that good things can happen. So I'm confident that the, the NHL and NBA are going to get through this, but in the case of, you know, the other sports, I can't speak too much to it, but we're seeing what's happening with major league baseball where they can't seem to contain their players and keep them from going out and they're traveling from city to city.

I don't know what the NFL's plan is of yet because everything we hear is the NFL doesn't know what their plan is right now. But as far as the NHL, I'm fairly confident once we get past this, this, this qualifying round and the round robin play, everything will be fine, Josh. And I cannot wait tomorrow night around what, eight 45 you're going to give my phone a call in the middle of play just so I know it. And I'll get Shane Willis on Twitter. So the next time I'm on, you can mention he's part of our broadcast too. I'm sorry that he cannot push your agenda further on Twitter, but I will talk to my good Western Canadian friend about that and make that happen just for you. If I call next time, will you consider picking up once again is, is your name above Michael K and Dan Patrick right now?

I'm going to have to look at ratings, my friend. What are you going to do for me? All right.

That sounds good. Great work. Great work to start things off, Mike. It's good to hear from you.

It's been good to hear you on the broadcast. Continued good luck with that. Josh, thank you very much. You know, I'm kidding.

And oh, oh, let me say this. You're the absolute best. You're the absolute best. I forgot to mention that.

Well, I know that you're lying about that, but I'll take the compliment as we end this conversation. There you go. Follow him on Twitter. Push his agenda.

At Mike Mediscalco. There we go. Thank you, Josh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's the, that guy is the absolute best. And I mean it Robert Wall. Um, and it's just a guy that's so easy to root for. It really is. But have you ever had an embarrassing circumstance when you called someone when you weren't supposed to?

No. Uh, I don't know if I wasn't supposed to call her, but I called my mom in church. I butt dialed her when we had, when that was actually a thing and her phone just went off and she was like, who is calling me?

And it was me and I was sitting right next to her. Oh, I do at times. I'm a phone call person. As you know, I call people more than the normal person does. And when somebody doesn't pick up, I send the text that it was a butt dial, right? So that way I don't have, I'm not the embarrassing guy who calls too much and that circumstance it's just, Oh yeah, yeah, I didn't mean to call you there.

Oh yeah, it's good to hear from you. So I'm not the crazy person calling. It only because I go through a weird case of anxiety if they don't pick up what they're thinking about me calling. Because as a documentary said last year that I watched with some frat guy, easily 19, 20 years old, palming like a Budweiser, he said, Oh man, yeah, in 2020, or I guess it would have been 2019, in 2019, giving someone a call is like the equivalent of showing up to their house.

Something like that. Sometimes I'll just turn my phone on, do not disturb. I don't want anybody to call me, but my dad is the exact same way you are. If he is in the car driving, he has to be on the phone. 3-3-6-7-7-7-1-600. Do you call or do you text? What do you do more call or text?

3-3-6-7-7-7-1-600. I'm not a good texter. I'm okay. But I mean, I've had a relationship in before because I was told I don't use any emojis and or exclamation point. That was not the reason y'all broke up.

I just want to let you know that right now. No one has ever broke up with somebody because they didn't send emojis. Well, I broke up when that was brought up with some when that was brought up. Exactly. You didn't get broken up with because you're a bad texter.

No, no, no. I broke up with them when that was a criticism brought up to me. Yeah, I get that. That's what I'm saying.

That's not the reason you were broken up with. Gotcha. I use I'm somebody who uses proper grammar. Sorry. There's few things I hate more in the English language and grammar than just simple grammar than the exclamation point. I hate the exclamation point more than I hate some diseases. I hate the exclamation point like what's necessary under what circumstance is the exclamation point necessary when you want to seem polite and excited about something and you don't have any other way to get that point across. Are you an LOL or a ha ha ha guy?

It depends. LOL is more of like a transition thing like what you said was kind of funny. If you get a ha ha ha for me, it was actually funny. Yeah, I don't do LOL.

It's a ha ha ha. Let's go to Jeremy in Burlington who's going to try and help us clear some of this up. Jeremy, text or call? Man, I'm a text type of guy. When I get a phone call, it always startles me. I'm like, why is someone calling me? Why wouldn't you just send me a text? I don't need to be on the phone talking to you all the time. Is this radio show the only phone call you're making today?

Probably. I like your show. This is probably my third or fourth time calling in. I was the horrible macho man Randy Savage mixed with Rick Slayer a while back. Oh, actually, you know what? Try to jog my memory real quick. How did that sound? No.

But I have a question. What are your thoughts on the Belichick and having his team all opt out of the season so we can get the best draft days? Thanks for the call, Jeremy.

I think the best way... I think people give Belichick way too much credit. There's an actual executive that texts Schefter saying, oh, Belichick always has something up his sleeve, as if an incredibly personal decision opting out like many of these players have.

And if you've read what these Patriot players have written, Dante Hightower, Brandon Bolden, Cannon, the offensive lineman. I don't know his first name. Is it Joe Cannon?

Okay. What are other names you think it could possibly be? I don't know. What's his name? Marcus. Marcus Cannon. Thank you. Joe Cannon.

That sounds like an action figure. I didn't say Nick Cannon. Joe Cannon. That's great.

Thank you. If you read what a lot of these guys have wrote, it's deeply personal. It's a tough decision. I think it might be a circumstance where we're giving Belichick more credit than he deserves. But I still don't believe the Patriots are going to be so bad they're going to pick in the top five of the draft.

Like, they lose guys, right? But you're talking about a coach that's incredibly resourceful. I mean, coaching in quarterback play can overcome a lot of deficits.

It could be a real equalizer. The Patriots in many of their Super Bowl wins did not have as much talent as the team that they were facing. I'd probably say in half their Super Bowl wins they didn't have as much talent. But coaching, different styles, beat you 13 to 3 or we'll win a shootout against Atlanta. Like, you name it. Coaching, quarterback play. I happen to be a Cam Newton believer.

I think he's going to have a revenge tour-like season. I still right now, if you put a gun up to my head, which I still think it's a really weird thing to say often. Oh, put a gun up to my head.

Why are we getting so violent here? If you asked me who's going to win right now, the AFC East, I'd still say the Patriots. Even though the Bills bring in the Jets guard who was starting that, Brian Winters, who is going to replace, I think, Feliciano who got hurt on the offensive line.

I still think it's probably going to be the Patriots. That's how I feel. But we got sidetracked. Robert, do you usually put periods at the end of your sentences via text or do you leave it at the end of a text? Do you leave it blank? It depends if there are multiple sentences in that text. If it's like two sentences, then I'll put a period. If there's no, if it's just one sentence or one thought idea, then no. What's your policy on all caps?

I mean, to like demonstrate anger or frustration or so you can like get the emotion from that text, I guess. Okay. What are you doing a profile on me or something?

No, no, I'm just seeing where you stand. I don't do the all caps thing. I don't do the exclamation point. I don't really do emojis. Stan Cotton's big on emojis. Like he loves emojis. He did send me a lot of emojis when he called or when he texted me. Big emoji guy, Stan Cotton.

What do you got in Ticket to the House? DG is also a big emoji guy. Yes, he is. But really just the thumbs up.

That's all he used. He gave me like a dude with a cowboy hat and a thumbs up last time I texted him. Wow. Things are getting really heated. You better watch out, Maria. I'm coming for him. A lovely and talented Robert Walsh. What do you got in Ticket to the House? This landscaper will definitely get your goat. That's next on The Drive.