Andersen for game 5, day after day for hurricane

Raleigh, NC – Frederik Andersen did not play for the Carolina Hurricanes against the New Jersey Devils in game 5 of the first round Series Eastern Conference in the Lenovo Center.

“He’s day by day and he’s outside tonight,” said Hurricanes trainer Rod Brind’amour.

The goalkeeper left a 5-2 win in game 4 in the second period on Sunday at 4:19 a.m. after suffering an unknown injury at a collision with Devil’s striker Timo Meier. Andersen made six parades on seven shots.

Pyotr Kochetkov, who achieved 14 reliefs, made his first start in the series in game 5.

Carolina has a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 series and can rise to the second round with a win.

“We definitely thought about bringing him into this game anyway,” said Brind’amour. “He played half of the games this year, I think. It’s not like using a man we don’t trust or didn’t play a lot of games. We have a lot of confidence in him.”

In 47 games of the regular season, Kochetkov was 27-16-3 with an average of 2.60 goals, a percentage of 0.898 and two closings.

“I am sure it helps that he has a little action (in game 4),” said Brind’amour. “He had many layoffs and he has already returned from different things, and he really didn’t miss a beat. So I am not sure whether that helped or not.

“Maybe it’s a big deal to get the atmosphere and all of this. Hopefully it helped him.”

Andersen started the first four games in the series 3-1 with a 1.59 GAA and a percentage of 0.936. He was 13-8-1 with a 2.50 GAA and a percentage of 0.899 in 22 games of the regular season. He missed 39 games for a knee injury in October, which led to an operation on November 22nd.

“We did the two-goalie thing all year round and we feel comfortable with one of them,” said Carolina striker Jordan Martinook. “I felt (Kochetkov), which settled in the last game and played very well for us. Don’t worry about ‘Koochie’, that’s sure.”

Spencer Martin was reminded of Chicago of the American Hockey League from Chicago and supported Kochetkov. Martin was in nine games (seven starts) for the Hurricanes 3-4-1 with 3.89 GAA and 0.846 percent.

“He illuminated when he played here and I saw every game he played (in Chicago) and he was great down there,” said Brind’amour. “We have a lot of confidence.”