RALEIGH, N.C. — Andrei Svechnikov is the only teammate who can actually communicate with Pyotr Kochetkov, which makes him the de facto — and perhaps only — expert on the Carolina Hurricanes' sudden starting goaltender after all of a few weeks with the team.
So it may be instructive that when Kochetkov found himself trading slashes with Boston Bruins uber-pest Brad Marchand in the second period of the Russian rookie's relief appearance Wednesday night, Svechnikov was perhaps the least surprised of anyone.
"He's that kind of guy," Svechnikov said. "I remember from the past, playing with him in junior hockey, he was always that kind of guy. He gets into that. I told him after second period, stay calm. That's always what I'm saying to myself as well."
Given the language barrier with Kochetkov, who came over from Russia in February and has in a few short weeks with the Hurricanes managed to rescue not only their hopes of winning the Metropolitan Division with three stellar late appearances but Game 2 of their first-round playoff series against the Bruins, everyone but Svechnikov is still trying to figure out who he really is.
Right down to his first name.
"Peter, Pyotr, however you want to say that," Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho said.
But as a goalie, they're starting to get a pretty good handle on him. He saved their bacon in the regular season after first Frederik Andersen and then Raanta got hurt, and he did it again Wednesday with 30 saves in a wild 5-2 win that sent the Hurricanes to Boston for Game 3 on Friday up 2-0.
And as good as Raanta was in Game 1 and the first 5 1/2 minutes of Game 2 before David Pastrnak ran into him, maybe Kochetkov was the man for this time and place. He fit right in. The same goalie who, sans helmet, challenged the entire opposing bench to a fight in his AHL debut with the Chicago Wolves — although the Iowa Wild probably had no idea what he was actually yelling — did not hesitate to respond to Marchand's cross-check with a slash of his own.
Which means only Arturs Irbe (four) has more postseason penalty minutes among Hurricanes goalies than Kochetkov (two) and which isn't, necessarily, what Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour wanted to see. But Tony DeAngelo, who thrives in this kind of hostile environment, was sorry he missed it. He turned his back to the play as he retrieved the puck, only to turn around and see Kochetkov and Marchand being pulled apart.
"I didn't see it," DeAngelo said, "but I like it."
The Hurricanes, under Brind'Amour, have routinely been a two-goalie team, even in the postseason, but given the injuries they're suddenly a three-goalie team at the minimum. With Andersen still out and Raanta's status for Game 3 uncertain — Raanta skated Thursday morning but Brind'Amour said the goalie was "still not 100 percent" — the Hurricanes may have to rely upon a pair of rookies with three career NHL starts between them.
In Kochetkov's case, at least, he's given them every reason to think he can handle it so far.
"The adversity we had earlier in the year with the goalies has made this not a big deal because we have faith in the kid," Brind'Amour said. "We've seen him. It's not like we don't know what we have. We've seen him. The guys responded by the way they played in front of him, but he responded by the way he played."
And Kochetkov certainly responded when Marchand tested his mettle. Later, in the third period, after making a glove save, Kochetkov held up his mitt and brandished it in Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron's face, of all people, one of the game's distinguished gentlemen. He may not have age, at 22, but he's a beauty.
All of a few weeks into his NHL career, he already has the aura of an old-school loose cannon in the Billy Smith-Ron Hextall mold, fiery and fearless, the kind of goalie ready to defend his blue ice with a sly slash to the Achilles tendon. The fact that no one other than Svechnikov really knows what he's saying only adds to his mystique.
"I don't know if he's crazy. He's definitely a funny guy," Aho said. "Obviously he doesn't speak too much English, but he's trying, and at least I feel like I understand what he's saying."
