Pyotr Kochetkov will have surgery on a lower-body injury and is expected to be out for the remainder of the season, Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Monday.
The 26-year-old goaltender, who was placed on injured reserve earlier Monday, did not dress in the Hurricanes’ last two games after allowing five goals on 28 shots in a 6-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Dec. 20. He missed the first 11 games of the season due to the lingering injury he suffered during the preseason.
“He decided to have surgery, so he will be out for probably a year,” Brind’Amour said. “He wasn’t feeling good all year. As you know, he dealt with that all season. He played really well, that’s the hardest part. He fought, but he just doesn’t want to continue like this, so we’ll fix it and go from there.”
Kochetkov is 6-2-0 with a 2.33 goals-against average, .899 save percentage and one shutout in nine games (eight starts) this season.
Carolina’s second-round pick (36th) in the 2019 NHL Draft, Kochetkov is 71-38-12 with a 2.46 GAA, .905 save percentage and 11 shutouts in 125 regular season games (120 starts), and is 2-5 with a 3.83 GAA and . .860 in 10 Stanley Cup Playoff games (four starts).
With Kochetkov out, Brandon Bussi is expected to start against the New York Rangers on Monday (7 p.m. ET; FDSNSO, MSGSN), with Frederik Andersen as his backup. Bussi, 27, is 12-1-1 with a 2.10 GAA, .912 save percentage and one shutout in 14 starts this season, his first in the NHL. Andersen, 36, is 5-8-2 with a 3.27 GAA and .869 save percentage in 15 starts.
“We’re going to need [Andersen]”, said Brind’Amour. “The luxury we had is no longer a luxury. We had three guys to rely on. Now it’s no. It’s pretty clear, we have these two guys, and they need to figure it out. That’s kind of been our pattern here all year. No matter who comes in, you have to find out. »
Carolina (23-11-3) enters Monday first in the Metropolitan Division.
NHL.com freelance correspondent Kurt Dusterberg contributed to this report.
