RALEIGH, N.C. — Frederik Andersen did not play for the Carolina Hurricanes against the New Jersey Devils in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference First Round series at Lenovo Center on Tuesday.
“He’s day to day and he’s out tonight,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said.
The goalie left a 5-2 win in Game 4 on Sunday at 4:19 of the second period after he sustained an undisclosed injury in a collision with Devils forward Timo Meier. Andersen made six saves on seven shots.
Pyotr Kochetkov, who made 14 saves in relief, made his first start of the series in Game 5.
Carolina has a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 series and can advance to the second round with a victory.
“We definitely would have considered putting him in this game anyway,” Brind’Amour said. “He’s played half the games this year, I think. This isn’t like you’re putting in a guy that we don’t trust or hasn’t played a ton of games for us. We have a lot of faith in him.”
In 47 regular-season games, Kochetkov was 27-16-3 with a 2.60 goals-against average, .898 save percentage and two shutouts.
“I’m sure it helps that he got a little action [in Game 4],” Brind’Amour said. “He’s had a lot of layoffs and he’s come back from different things before, and he really didn’t miss a beat. So I’m not really sure if that helped or not.
“Maybe just getting the atmosphere and all that, I think, is a big deal. So hopefully it helped him.”
Andersen started the first four games of the series, going 3-1 with a 1.59 GAA and .936 save percentage. He was 13-8-1 with a 2.50 GAA and .899 save percentage in 22 regular-season games. He missed 39 games because of a knee injury in October that led to surgery on Nov. 22.
“We’ve done the two-goalie thing all year, and we’re comfortable with either one of them in there,” Carolina forward Jordan Martinook said. “I felt [Kochetkov] settled in last game fine and played really well for us. No worries about ‘Koochie,’ that’s for sure.”
Spencer Martin was recalled from Chicago of the American Hockey League and backed up Kochetkov. Martin was 3-4-1 with a 3.89 GAA and .846 save percentage in nine games (seven starts) for the Hurricanes.
“He’s been lights-out when he’s played here, and I’ve watched every game he played [in Chicago], and he was great down there,” Brind’Amour said. “It gives us a lot of confidence.”
