Antti Raanta playing more like a No. 1 goalie than a backup important to Canes success
.JPG "Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Antti Raanta (32) blocks the shot of Colorado Avalanche’s Gabriel Landeskog (92) with Hurricanes’ Brett Pesce (22) defending during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, March 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)")
On a night when goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic was swatting a puck into his own net and Petr Mrazek was struggling, Antti Raanta was doing everything right.
Raanta was at his best for the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday. With Frederik Andersen still not feeling 100 percent, according to Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour, Raanta was called on to make his third consecutive start in net.
Thirty-six saves later, Raanta had handed the Colorado Avalanche their first shutout of the season. The Canes won 2-0 at PNC Arena and with a 40-12-5 record now have the best winning percentage in the NHL (.746), moving past the Avs (.737).
“That’s why we went out and did what we did this summer,” Brind’Amour said. “It was specifically for this kind of situation.”
What the Canes did last summer was reshape their goaltending. Mrazek left in free agency. Nedeljkovic was traded to Detroit. James Reimer, like Mrazek, also departed to sign elsewhere.
The Canes brought in Andersen and Raanta as free agents — Andersen leaving the Toronto Maple Leafs and Raanta the Arizona Coyotes. In an interesting twist, the Leafs signed Mrazek, basically a goalie swap.
It has been a tough go at times this season for Nedeljkovic and Mrazek, and especially so Thursday.
Nedeljkovic, attempting to play a dump-in against the Minnesota Wild, took a swipe at the puck and knocked it into his net, the Red Wings eventually losing 6-5 in a shootout. Mrazek allowed four goals on 12 shots against Arizona, being relieved in the second period of the Leafs’ 5-4 overtime loss.
Raanta, meanwhile, was coolly working the Carolina crease against one of the most dangerous teams in the league, a team averaging 3.9 goals a game. Seventeen of his saves came in the second period as he dueled the Avs’ Darcy Kuemper stop for stop in a fast-paced but scoreless game until defenseman Ethan Bear scored the game’s first goal with 5:40 left in regulation with a shot from the point.
Sebastian Aho’s empty-net goal sealed the victory for the Canes and Raanta, once Kuemper’s teammate with the Coyotes.
“Seeing Darcy in the warmups and knowing that he’s one of the best goalies in the league, it was kind of those feelings were you knew it’s not going to be easy for us to score,” Raanta said. “I think he played an unreal game also. He was dialed in. In the first period he was probably the only reason why we didn’t score. It started to look like it was going to go to OT, but a good shot from the point (by Bear) and a little bounce here and there and that was the game.”
Bear’s shot appeared to hit the stick of the Avs’ Nazem Kadri, the puck skipping past Kuemper, who finished with 35 saves.
Raanta improved to 10-3-2 for the season, lowering his goals-against average to 2.31 and boosting his save percentage to .918. It was his second shutout of the season and the 15th of his career, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to say it was his best performance with the Canes.
“Sometimes even if you let one or two goals in, you might feel like, “Hey, I couldn’t do anything better,’” he said, smiling. “Like I say, usually when you get a shutout, it’s a little bit luck, also. You need to have a good team in front of you. ....
“I think it’s just getting that rhythm, getting that confidence. Just play the game and don’t have to think too much.”
Andersen has been one of the NHL’s best stories this season. He has won 29 games, played in the 2022 NHL All-Star Game. He has put his injury issues with the Leafs last season behind him, been everything the Canes were hoping for when they signed him and become a Vezina Trophy candidate as the league’s top goalie.
And Raanta? While injuries have been a problem in the past, he has been a nice complement for Andersen while becoming something of a mentor for the younger Finns on the team — they call him “Father Finn,” Raanta has joked.
“It gives us the confidence to just play our game,” Bear said Thursday of the goaltending tandem. “At the same time, we’re going to play hard for whoever’s in net. Tonight it was Raanta and he played a really good game.”
Good enough to be named the game’s first star, although Raanta said his mindset would remain the same: “Stay humble and keep working.”
Carolina Hurricanes vs Philadelphia Flyers
When: Saturday, 3 p.m.
Where: PNC Arena, Raleigh.
TV/RADIO: ESPN+, WCMC-99.9 FM.
This story was originally published March 11, 2022 at 1:06 PM.
