Hurricanes' Raanta leaves Game 7 with lower body injury

Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Antti Raanta lays on the ice after being injured against the New York Rangers during the second period in Game 7 of the second round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at PNC Arena. James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

Hurricanes goalie Antti Raanta leaves Game 7 with lower body injury

By Adam Stites | Last updated 5/30/22

A rough start to Game 7 against the New York Rangers got even worse for the Carolina Hurricanes when goaltender Antti Raanta suffered a lower-body injury and had to be helped off the ice. The Hurricanes announced during the second intermission that Raanta will not return.

Raanta, 33, took over as Carolina's starting goaltender in April when Frederik Andersen suffered an injury. In his first 12 playoff starts, Raanta allowed 2.2 goals per game and recorded a .924 save percentage. He was injured Monday after lunging across the goal late in the second period to shut down a scoring opportunity for the Rangers' Mika Zibanejad.

Antti Raanta's down and hurting. Talk about awful injury luck. pic.twitter.com/R450Od4ptH
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) May 31, 2022

After Raanta was helped off, he was replaced in goal by Pyotr Kochetkov who promptly allowed the Rangers to score their third goal of the game in his first minute on the ice.