RALEIGH, N.C. — On the surface, it reeked of at least a pinch of panic with a dash of desperation.
Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour went to Page One in the hockey coach’s handbook for creating a spark to his team and, on Thursday night, made a change at goaltender.
The message was clear: The Hurricanes entered the night grasping at straws in an effort to turn their Eastern Conference second-round playoff series against the Rangers around, down 2-0 entering Game 3 at PNC Arena.
So, starter Frederik Andersen was out of the net for Carolina, replaced by Pyotr Kochetkov.
Andersen hasn’t played poorly in the series, but he hasn’t been a difference-maker, either. He was grossly outplayed by Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin in Game 2 on Tuesday night.
That, however, isn’t anything to be ashamed of, considering Shesterkin is one of the best netminders in the world, and he stopped 54 of 57 Carolina shots in the Rangers’ 4-3 double-overtime win.
Andersen posted a 13-2 record in the regular season with a 1.84 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage — stellar numbers. He missed 49 games earlier in the season with blood-clotting issues before returning on March 7.
He finished 9-1 in his final 10 regular-season starts and had been 4-3 in the postseason with a 2.58 goals-against and an .899 save percentage ahead of Game 3.
His replacement, Kochetkov, was 23-13-4 with a 2.33 goals-against in the regular season, but he hasn’t played since April 14 with Andersen firmly established as goaltender No. 1.
“Will you go back to Freddy?’’ Brind’Amour was asked several hours before Thursday’s game.
“Um … yeah … no,’’ Brind’Amour said. “We’re going to go with ‘Kooch’ tonight.’’
Why?
“I think Freddy’s played really well, but he’s also played a lot, and I think giving him a little rest is the best thing,’’ Brind’Amour said. “At the end of the day, [Kochetkov] is fresh, and hopefully, he has a great game.’’
In Kochetkov, the Hurricanes were not only changing technique between the pipes, they were bringing in a much stronger personality.
“He’s got a different demeanor,’’ Brind’Amour said. “Freddy’s really calm and cool, and ‘Kooch’ is a little more passionate and wears his emotions on his sleeve.’’
Another change Brind’Amour made on Thursday was veteran center Evgeny Kuznetsov returning to the ice after being a healthy scratch in Game 2. The benching followed a killer undisciplined penalty Kuznetsov took in Game 1 that led to a key Rangers power-play goal.
“We all understand where we’re at and the situation,’’ Brind’Amour said. “How can we find that little extra play here or there to make a difference? That’s what it’s about.’’
As much as the Rangers may like the fact that the opposing coach is searching for answers, they’ve seen this goalie-switch movie before — in last season’s opening round of the playoffs — and it didn’t work out so well for them.
After losing the first two games of the series to the Rangers in New Jersey, Devils coach Lindy Ruff pressed the goaltender-change button, benching starter Vitek Vanecek in favor of untested 22-year-old Akira Schmid.
All Schmid did was carry the Devils to a 4-3 series win, their first playoff series victory in 11 years, and outplay Shesterkin along the way. He led the Devils to wins in four of the five games he started, posted a 1.39 goals-against average, a .951 save percentage and two shutouts in the series, the second of which came in Game 7.
So, Thursday night’s change in net by Carolina had a beware-what-you-wish-for feel to it — as in beware of the hot goaltender in the playoffs.
“They have two good goaltenders,’’ Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said before the game. “We prepared for one goaltender that we thought was going to start [Andersen], but we’ve also prepared for the other goaltender as well. That’s all you can really do.’’
Asked about the importance of testing Kochetkov because it’s been so long since he played in a game, Laviolette said, “I’d like to test them anyway. You’re always trying to find pucks to the net, people to the net, quality [shots] to the net. It’s important to have that mindset anyway.’’
Laviolette’s players echoed his philosophy.
“It doesn’t change our mindset, we still want to get as many pucks to the net as we can,’’ winger Jimmy Vesey said.
“It doesn’t change a thing for what we have to do,’’ Mika Zibanejad, one of the Rangers’ top snipers, said. “Any time we talk about our game we want to get attempts on net and shoot a lot of pucks. We’ll just have to keep shooting.’’
