Hurricanes’ Kochetkov Leaves Game in OT After Contact to Head

The Carolina Hurricanes claimed one of a possible two points in a 5-4 shootout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night, Nov. 23. Jack Roslovic scored in his return for the Hurricanes in his first time back in his hometown after signing to Carolin this past summer.

However, this was not the major news from the game. A point is a point, but the main concern is the well-being of Hurricanes’ netminder Pyotr Kochetkov, who took a nasty hit to the head in overtime. From the replay of the collision by the net, it looked like in a footrace to get to behind the net, it appeared that Sean Walker clipped Kochetkov in the head while trying to drive Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski wide around the goal.

Related: Hurricanes Shouldn’t Make Any Big Moves After Frederik Andersen Injury

Kochetkov was on the ice for a while behind the net until Hurricanes’ trainer Doug Bennett made his way to help him. After a few minutes, the dazed Kovhetkov got up and was helped off the ice by Bennett and Brent Burns. Head coach Rod Brind’Amour sent out Spencer Martin to finish the overtime and eventual shootout, which led to the Blue Jackets winning after a Sean Monahan tally, the only goal out of the six combined shooters.

During the postgame, Brind’Amour stated, “We already have one goalie down. This is not ideal, that’s for sure. I don’t know where we are at [with Kochetkov’s injury]. It didn’t look great.”

The team is scheduled to be off Sunday before they welcome the Dallas Stars on Monday at the Lenovo Center. As of now, there might be an update for a few hours, but once we at The Hockey Writers know more, we will update everyone on the situation involving the Russian netminder.

This is a huge blow to the Hurricanes who are already down Frederik Andersen who will be out eight to 12 weeks following a knee surgery. Most likely, the team will recall Yaniv Perets from the Chicago Wolves and go from there. It puts the team in a tight crunch as they have to really figure out their goaltending situation if this is a few games without their main goaltender.

Hopefully, the Kochetkov injury isn’t too serious.

Sending Well Wishes

We at The Hockey Writers wish for a safe recovery for Kochetkov and hope he will be back soon and healthy. You never want to see this ever in a hockey game.