The Carolina Hurricanes likely will play without their top goalie when they return home Saturday to face the Ottawa Senators in Raleigh, N.C.
Carolina went 1-2-0 on a road trip that ended Wednesday with a 4-1 loss to the Utah Hockey Club. The Hurricanes fell despite attempting a season-high 50 shots, but they left Salt Lake City with an even bigger concern.
In that game, Hurricanes goalie Pyotr Kochetkov left midway through the third period. Coach Rod Brind’Amour told reporters afterward that the 25-year-old Russian got “banged up” earlier in the game.
Kochetkov did not dress for practice on Friday, and Brind’Amour said he doubted the netminder could play Saturday, although the team did not immediately make a decision to call up a substitute.
Kochetkov has an 8-2-0 record with a 2.56 goals-against average. He had been playing the majority of the games since Frederik Andersen went down with a lower-body injury late last month, and it’s uncertain when Andersen will return.
“We were hoping it was going to be week-to-week, but now it’s going to be, I would say, way longer,” Brind’Amour said Friday. “Let’s just leave it at that.”
Should Kochetkov be unavailable, then Spencer Martin likely would get the start on Saturday. Aside from replacing Kochetkov on Wednesday, the 29-year-old has started only one game this season, a loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Nov. 9. Overall, he has allowed six goals on 31 shots.
Those are not the only injuries Carolina must overcome. Forward Seth Jarvis missed the games in Las Vegas and Utah with an upper-body injury, and the 22-year-old, who logged 33 goals and 34 assists last season, may not return to the ice until sometime next week.
The Hurricanes, who had won eight straight games before the three-game trip, have been carried by Martin Necas in the first month. The 25-year-old center leads the team with 16 assists and 25 points, and he and Jack Roslovic share the team lead with nine goals. Necas enters play Saturday with a career-best 11-game point streak during which he has eight goals and 14 assists.
Ottawa saw its modest two-game winning streak end Thursday with a 5-4 overtime loss to the visiting Philadelphia Flyers. The Senators led 4-2 midway through the third period before giving up two goals in a span of 2:03. Matvei Michkov netted the game-winner for the Flyers with 55 seconds left in the three-on-three extra session.
Even though the Senators squandered a late advantage, coach Travis Green had few qualms with how his team played.
“We’ve been playing well here for three games, and you hate to lose a game like that where you dominated in a lot of areas for most of the night,” Green said.
The Senators, whose 16 power-play goals are tied for fourth in the league, converted on 2-of-6 chances with the man advantage against the Flyers. Tim Stutzle, who leads the team with 21 points, tallied an assist. The 22-year-old left winger has recorded at least one point in five of his past six games and in 13 of 16 contests this season.
–Field Level Media