With Pyotr Kochetkov in net, Hurricanes hope to finish off Devils

After a tough regular season, Carolina Hurricanes winger Andrei Svechnikov is feeling rejuvenated in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The 25-year-old has four goals and five points through four games of the Hurricanes’ first-round series against the New Jersey Devils, including a hat trick in Game 4 on Sunday that gave his team a 3-1 lead in the seven-game series — one win away from advancing to the next round.

The Hurricanes will look to keep it going when they host the Devils in Game 5 on Tuesday.

In this year’s postseason, Svechnikov already has matched his playoff career high in goals and is six points away from his career-best 11, set last spring.

He had 48 points (20 goals, 28 assists) in 72 games this regular season, his lowest output since he had 42 points in 55 games in 2020-21. The 0.67 points per game this season was the second lowest of his career, trailing only his rookie season (0.45) in 2018-19.

“It was a hard season for me, but right now, the playoff time is my time. I love this time of year,” Svechnikov said. “I love playing a physical game. I’m just trying to do everything that’s going to help my team win these games.”

Carolina can advance to the second round for a fifth consecutive season and the sixth time in the past seven years.

The Hurricanes will be without goalie Frederik Andersen, who left the game Sunday early in the second period after Devils forward Timo Meier crashed into him.

“He’s day to day and he’s out tonight,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said of Andersen, who has won three of the four games in this series while recording a 1.59 goals-against average and .937 save percentage.

Pyotr Kochetkov, who allowed one goal on 15 shots in relief of Andersen, will get the nod. It was Kochetkov’s first appearance since April 16.

“It was obviously a little dicey there at the start — he doesn’t want that goal to go in too often — but again, how do you respond,” Brind’Amour said. “Then he looked fine, he didn’t look shaky. That, to me, is the key after he hadn’t been in for a while. … Could have went the other way, and it didn’t, so I give him a lot of credit for that.”

The Devils, meanwhile, continue to deal with a battered blue line as they try to keep their season alive.

Defensemen Luke Hughes, Brenden Dillon and Johnathan Kovacevic remain sidelined with injuries. Hughes and Dillon haven’t played since each was injured in Game 1 while Kovacevic was injured early in Game 3.

“Those guys are important to us. They make you a better and deeper team,” New Jersey coach Sheldon Keefe said. “But as we proved in Game 3 (a 3-2 overtime victory), you can overcome that. Even (Sunday), we didn’t have our best game, and we were one shot away late into the third period. There’s a path to winning. We just have to stay on it.”

The Devils are also trying to overcome a struggling power play that has gone 0-for-12 with just 14 shots. It’s a stark contrast from the regular season, when they finished third in the NHL with a 28.2 percent success rate.

“Hasn’t changed our confidence,” forward Jesper Bratt said. “We’re practicing it, talking about it. We kind of know how to break it down. We’ve just got to execute a little bit better.”

–Field Level Media