SUNRISE, Fla. — Ahead of what very well could be his final performance in a Carolina Hurricanes uniform, Frederik Andersen can at least take solace in the knowledge he isn’t the reason the Hurricanes are facing elimination.
There’s almost nothing else Andersen could have done. His playoff performance has been superb. There’s only been one goalie better in the entire NHL, and he happens to be in the opposite net.
Sergei Bobrovsky has been the problem for the Hurricanes, a goalie on a nearly unprecedented hot streak, somehow reaching another level in a Game 3 shutout Monday after a pair of overtime wins in Raleigh. Andersen was up to the task in the first game, Antti Raanta in the second, Andersen again in the third, but allowing goals is not what put the Hurricanes in this position.
Scoring one even-strength goal in 14 periods against Bobrovsky is, which obscures to some degree how good the Hurricanes’ own goaltending has been, Raanta at first, Andersen now.
Over the course of the postseason, Andersen actually has a better save percentage (.937) than Bobrovsky (.935), although Bobrovsky has saved twice as many goals as Andersen in terms of the actual chances they’ve faced, based on scoring chances. In less than three full rounds, Bobrovsky has saved more goals against (13.96) than any goalie has in four rounds since Tim Thomas for the Boston Bruins in 2011 (20.72).
In his two starts in this series, Andersen has a .948 save percentage. That’d rank seventh all-time if stretched out over an entire postseason. (As things stand, his save percentage this spring ranks 47th in NHL history.) That’d be great if it weren’t up against a guy who’s stopped 132 of 135 shots in the series (.978) and has made 67 straight saves.
“Our guy’s been great too,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Tuesday. “You’ve got to give him credit. I don’t know what the save percentages are. It’s outrageous.”
Andersen’s performance this spring since entering the arena in Game 6 of the first-round series against the New York Islanders provides a definitive answer to one what-if: If he’d been 100 percent and able to play Game 7 against the New York Rangers last season, that game — and by extension that season — might have had a very different outcome.
In any case, Andersen has dispensed with the notion that he’s not a playoff goalie, baggage he brought with him to the Hurricanes. The Toronto Maple Leafs have done their part as well since then to prove they were the problem, not Andersen.
But even if the Hurricanes’ season isn’t over quite yet, as they attempt to become the fifth out of 205 teams to work their way out of a 3-0 hole, the impending reality of their goaltending situation looms over them. Neither Andersen nor Raanta is under contract for next season, but Pyotr Kochetkov is.
The young Russian is the future, regardless of what does or doesn’t happen now, and he’s ready to make the full-time jump to the NHL. His $2 million contract gives the Hurricanes the flexibility to manage the rest of their roster. The only question is who’s there with him.
Of the two, Raanta probably makes more sense, with a mentality better suited to be a backup and a mentor for a young goalie making that transition. If Andersen can somehow outduel Bobrovsky and engineer an improbable and historic comeback, perhaps that calculus changes. But at the moment, time is running out on the Hurricanes, and Andersen, too.
He was a great regular-season goalie his first year here. He was a great playoff goalie his second year. He did what he was brought here to do. If this is the end, it’s not because of him.
