The Hurricanes Week in Review As The Team is in Chicago
By Glenn Brewer
The Carolina Hurricanes finished a tough week both in opponents faced and results. The week shaped up with three contests against three playoff teams from the prior season.
The week began with a game in Florida against the reigning President’s Trophy winners, followed up by a visit from Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers.
To wrap up the week, Carolina headed to the Stanley Cup champions in Colorado to face the Avalanche.
The week started with the injury news to starting goaltender, Frederik Andersen.
Not the news a team needed when facing the likes of three of the top offenses in the NHL.
Despite this news, the goaltending put forth a strong effort. Antti Raanta took hold of two of the three matches. Florida and Colorado were Raanta’s responsibility.
Young netminder, Pyotr Kochetkov, got the nod against the Oilers at PNC Arena.
Raanta was the lone positive against the Panthers and shut down the Panther’s power play and several odd-man opportunities. Still, this was not enough as the offense for the Hurricanes was non-existent.
Raanta’s start in Colorado was not as stellar as in South Beach, but still enough to keep the team in the game.
The skill of the Avalanche power play was far too much for the Hurricanes to handle and ultimately decided the game.
Facing backup goalie, Pavel Francouz, the Hurricanes had an opportunity to put some scoring chances together but came up short. A far better performance than in Florida, but still more was required.
The game began to get out of hand due to some sloppy refereeing, but that was not an excuse for the loss.
Kochetkov played a phenomenal game at home and the offense certainly showed up, scoring seven goals for the 23-year-old.
Playing a calm and poised game, Kochetkov provided confidence in the team to push forward up the ice knowing the goalie had things under control.
Besides a highlight reel goal from McDavid, Kochetkov never seemed in trouble for an extended period of time. This will ease the pressure of rushing Andersen back to the lineup.
Not the ideal point production from the week, but Rod Brind’Amour and the team knew this was a string of difficult opponents, with two on the road.
Still, the offense will need to be more consistent and now make up for the injury to Teuvo Teravainen.