Carolina Hurricanes beat Anaheim Ducks, but goalie Kochetkov leaves game with injury
The Carolina Hurricanes reached the midpoint of their season Thursday, facing the team that gave them their first loss of the season.
That would be the Anaheim Ducks, who came to PNC Arena looking to finish off a season sweep.
That didn’t happen. The Canes, despite the shock of losing goalie Pyotr Kochetkov to an injury, rolled to a 6-3 win and now have points in their seven straight games.
Kochetkov left the game in the second period with the score tied 3-3. But goalie Antti Raanta entered the game, Stefan Noesen soon scored and Jack Drury added a power-play goal as the Hurricanes took charge of a game that turned chippy in the second.
Forward Brendan Lemieux dropped the gloves to slug it out with the Ducks’ Sam Carrick, then waved his arms, asking for noise, after the fight He got it.
“That woke everybody up and the crowd got going,” Canes forward Jordan Martinook said
Seth Jarvis had a goal and two assists for the Canes, and Andrei Svechnikov, Brady Skjei each had a goal. Martinook, playing his 600th career game, also scored for the Canes, joking he was just playing “shotgun” for Jarvis on the Jordan Staal line.
‘”He’s played the same way for all 600 games, just that energy and giving everything you have,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Just a true professional.”
The victory gave the Hurricanes a 23-13-5 record and 51 points halfway through the 2023-24 season, having gone 6-0-1 in their past seven games.
Canes’ goalie woes continue
The Hurricanes have had their share of goaltending injures and intrigue, and now have more after Kochetkov was helped off the ice Thursday in the second period with an upper-body injury.
Kochetkov, whose solid play has been so instrumental in the Canes’ recent surge, was shaken up after being hit by the Ducks’ Isac Lundestrom with 6:04 left in the period. Lundestrom drove the net for a shot, then jostled with Canes defenseman Dmitry Orlov to Kochetkov’s left. Lundestrom was knocked into the goalie and also hit his head on the post as he fell.
Brind’Ampur did not have an update on Kochetkov’s condition, saying, “We don’t know how that’s going to work out.”
Kochetkov was down for several moments as Canes trainer Doug Bennett came on the ice. Kochetkov was then taken to the locker room as goalie Antti Raanta entered the game.
“You never know,” Raanta said after the game. “It’s always a weird feeling. You’ve been sitting there for a couple of hours and everything feels a little off. You go and you just have to deliver.”
Raanta said he could sense quickly that Kochetkov likely would leave the game.
“You can usually tell if it’s just a little bump,” Raanta said. “It was a pretty hard hit. Hopefully everything will be OK, but it’s always tough to see a goalie partner go down.”
Canes fans, upset by the incident and booing the refs, then gave Raanta cheers of encouragement as he took over in the crease.
“Obviously it always feels good to hear the crowd and that always gives you a little bit of energy,” Raanta said. “It’s always the little push that you need.”
The Canes closed out the second period with a surge, giving Raanta a two-goal lead heading into the third. He picked up the win with three saves.
Carolina has been without goalie Frederik Andersen, who has been sidelined by blood-clotting issues. His timeline to return is unknown.
Raanta was recently placed on waivers and reassigned to the Chicago Wolves of the AHL before being recalled. He’d won his two starts before Thursday.
Kochetkov’s start Thursday was his 11th in the Canes past 14 games, and he was 7-1-2 in that stretch.
This story was originally published January 11, 2024 at 9:11 PM.
