How did Hurricanes' Game 2 hero Pyotr Kochetkov get here?

RALEIGH, N.C. – Late in the second period of what would be a tempestuous 5-2 Carolina Hurricanes victory over the Boston Bruins, we were treated to the unusual sight of 22-year-old Carolina netminder Pyotr Kochetkov, appearing in his first-ever NHL playoff game and just his fourth NHL game at all, trading blows with super-pest Brad Marchand, who ended the altercation with a solid slash to Kochetkov’s chest.

Both earned minor penalties and Kochetkov, who speaks no English, may not have even known the man with whom he was engaging as he left his crease to give Marchand a slap with his catching glove.

Perhaps Carolina defenseman Tony DeAngelo said it best. “I didn’t see it. But I like it.”

Fair.

And you wonder, well, how the hell did we get here?

The simple answer is this:

Boston forward David Pastrnak clipped starting netminder Antti Raanta, fresh off his own first-ever NHL playoff win in Game 1, with 12:13 left in the first period in a scoreless game. Raanta twisted awkwardly, appeared to be bleeding from the face area and had to be helped from the ice.

He did not return and his status is unknown (see below).

Kochetkov, who’d come on in relief of Raanta late in the regular season and earned three straight wins in the three games in which he appeared, jumped over the boards and into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. A couple hours and one jousting match with one of the game’s most high-profile players later, and Kochetkov, a native of Penza, Russia, had his first playoff win, stopping 30 of 32 shots, and another unexpected experience in what has been an eventful few months.

“I told him after the second period just stay calm,” said Andrei Svechnikov, who appears to be the only person on the team who can actually communicate with Kochetkov.

But let’s take a step back and ask again, how did this happen — not the Marchand stuff or even skating into the pressure cooker of playoff action after beginning the season with the Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo and mixing in a stop with Chicago of the American Hockey League. But how did he end up, you know, here, in a Hurricanes jersey, in this moment?

Glad you asked.

We sat in on the Carolina Hurricanes 2018 draft preparations in Dallas.

It was not long after Rod Brind’Amour had been named head coach. The team was trying to change its identity, trying to find a recipe that would see the Hurricanes return to the playoffs after a decade of misery.

It was clear during those meetings that former Rookie of the Year Jeff Skinner wasn’t going to be a fit for the way Brind’Amour wanted to play.

On Aug. 2, 2018, Skinner, the seventh-overall pick in 2010, was dealt to the Buffalo Sabres for Cliff Pu, a second-pick in 2019, a third-round pick in 2020 and a sixth-round pick in 2020.

Let’s just say folks were not all that enthusiastic about the return in Canes country.

GM Don Waddell shrugs his shoulders when asked about the deal. Trade a popular player and you rarely get bouquets.

“That’s everywhere,” he said.

It may not have occurred to many people because it’s one of those transactions that’s easy to forget; all those picks, if they’re not high-end picks, seem to blend together, don’t they? But it just so happens that that second-round pick turned out to the aforementioned Kochetkov, who is now 1-0 in playoff competition to go with his 3-0 regular-season record.

The Skinner deal was the second under Waddell’s tenure. He was hired by new owner Tom Dundon when he bought the team in early 2018 after acquiring depth forward Jordan Martinook from Arizona.

“We were a little bit limited in where we could trade (Skinner) because he had protection,” Waddell recalled.

And if the return for a former Rookie of the Year seemed uninspiring, the Hurricanes have been a team happy to have plenty of picks no matter where they come, given their scouting and management team has established itself as one of the best in the league at turning picks into players.

“That’s the whole thing of getting extra picks sometimes. You can take, I don’t want to say we took a flyer on Pyotr, but maybe we don’t take a goalie that high if we don’t have multiple picks, either,” Waddell said. “Because there were a lot of areas that we needed to address. That’s why it’s nice to always have extra picks.”

It’s early in the going, of course, but the unheralded pick that became Kochetkov has a number of people talking future franchise netminder.

We spoke to ESPN analyst and former NHL netminder Kevin Weekes when it looked like the Hurricanes might even start Kochetkov in Game 1, and he said his friends in the scouting business have been telling him about the young netminder for three years.

And it wouldn’t have surprised Weekes at all had Kochetkov started Game 1, which is now moot, as it looks for the time being like the net is his.

…

This was a tough, chippy game that threatened to get out of control on several occasions, and we will say this: good on the on-ice officials for wading through some difficult waters.

The Pastrnak hit, for instance, was initially called a major, but a review by the officials downgraded that to a minor penalty. It was the right call. Similarly, there was no call on Andrei Svechnikov’s devastating but clean hit on Boston defenseman Hampus Lindholm, who had to be helped off the ice after Svechnikov caught him with his head down emerging from behind the Boston net.

Lindholm, who’d been paired with Brandon Carlo instead of usual partner Charlie McAvoy in an effort to create more flow and offensive opportunities for the Bruins in Game 2, was “not doing well,” according to head coach Bruce Cassidy, who said the hit “looked high” to him.

Later, Svechnikov and McAvoy collided inadvertently knee-to-knee in the neutral zone, Both stayed in the game, but the Bruins took one of their 13 minors after the collision, with Jake DeBrusk going for cross-checking Svechnikov. The undisciplined Bruins handed Carolina 12:43 in power-play time, about twice the 6:40 the Bruins enjoyed.

“Very physical, very intense,” said Canes first-line center Sebastian Aho, who scored twice, including the game-winner. “A lot happened in that game.”

That’s the truth.

Too early to know if Raanta, who had stopped all six shots he faced before being hit by Pastrnak while the Bruins were on the power play, will be available in Game 3 in Boston Friday.

“Obviously he didn’t come back, so that’s not a good sign,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour.

A better idea of Raanta’s injury and status will be available on Thursday, although Brind’Amour said he was in good spirits, which is Raanta’s perpetual state of being.

The Bruins have now been outscored 26-4 by the Hurricanes in five games this season, all won by Carolina. Cassidy went with Linus Ullmark for a second straight game, and Ullmark gave up four goals on 33 shots, a stat line that did not seem to impress the Boston coach, who lamented, “It would be nice if we got a timely save once in a while.” Look for Jeremy Swayman to get the net in Game 3. It would be his first postseason start. The 23-year-old has played 18:34 of playoff action in total.

For a time, at least, with the Bruins desperate for goals in the third period, Cassidy reunited "The Perfection Line" of Marchand, Pastrnak and captain Patrice Bergeron. According to naturalstatrick.com, they played 3:58 together. Jake DeBrusk had been playing on the right side with Marchand and Bergeron, while Pastrnak, who had been injured for much of April, had played for the most part with Erik Haula and Taylor Hall.

Bergeron, with two, and Taylor Hall, who had the lone goal in Game 1, are the only Bruins with goals in the series. Seven different Hurricanes have delivered goals, and that doesn’t count the team’s leading scorer: DeAngelo, who has four assists.