An incredible curiosity in the NHL! The Russian goalie was caught off guard by a shot from center ice.
Dmitry Storozhev February 9, 2024, 09:15 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
Piotr Kochetkov missed one of the most disappointing goals of his career, but that didn’t stop Carolina from winning.
“Carolina” received “Colorado” on its ice, which had not yet had a very successful series of visitors, losing matches with the “Rangers” and “New Jersey”. The Hurricanes themselves needed to improve: in their last game they lost to Vancouver.
From the first minutes, the Hurricanes showed that they are extremely determined. And the most determined of all was the Czech striker Martin Necas: the 25-year-old forward opened the scoring at the end of the second minute of the match, with his first shot on goal he hit Alexander Georgiev’s goal. Of course, in this episode it is worth highlighting the Czech’s solo pass, but at the same time the Avalanche’s Russian goalkeeper did not play in the best way, losing the puck.
Unfortunately for Georgiev, the second shot at his goal also turned out to be an assist: Necas was once again its author. This time it is difficult to blame the goalkeeper: Martin literally shot from a lethal position at Alexander, who could hardly do anything in this situation.
Three minutes before the end of the first half, Carolina fired her third shot on goal. Georgiev took care of it, but had no time to react to the shot. But it was again Necas who scored the first NHL hat-trick.
Video rights belong to NHL Enterprises, LP. You can see it on the NHL website.
The Hurricanes calmed down after scoring three goals and apparently mentally went to the locker room early. There is no other way to explain their failure in the last minute before half-time. First, experienced newcomer to the team Zach Parise, who played his third game today in an Avalanche jersey, scored a goal for the Avalanche. The 39-year-old American responded to Logan O’Connor’s pass and fired a shot past Petr Kochetkov, who was in the Hurricanes’ goal.
The local broadcasters had not yet had time to show Parise’s goal from all angles when a characteristic “ding” was heard on the broadcast and the commentators shouted in surprise. The spectators on the screens could not immediately understand what happened, but Kochetkov’s shot, which was approaching, indicated that another puck had entered his possession. And indeed, the Colorado players were already rushing to congratulate Samuel Girard, who luckily shot from the red line and was able to catch Peter by surprise just five seconds after the throw-in.
Video rights belong to NHL Enterprises, LP. You can see it on the NHL website.
Rod Brindamore decided to replace Kochetkov after leaving the locker room, and this decision was fully justified: Antti Raanta, who came out, was able to leave the goal intact. Carolina was able to increase its lead midway through the second half: Michael Bunting ejected Jonathan Drouin, making the Hurricanes’ lead more comfortable.
In the third twenty minutes, the Hurricanes came out again with Kochetkov in goal: Raanta was injured and could not continue the game. Peter, despite the incredibly funny goal just before the substitution, did not break down and played the last third of the match with dignity, not allowing Colorado to score a single puck after 10 shots on goal.
“Carolina” also did not make a single accurate shot in the last 20 minutes of playing time, but the score on the scoreboard still changed. In the last minute, Seth Jarvis went into an empty net, but Mikko Rantanen stopped the Canadian by hitting his hands with his stick, so the referees awarded the goal to the locals, which was the last of the game.
Video rights belong to NHL Enterprises, LP. You can see it on the NHL website.
5:2 – “Carolina” redeemed itself from the loss of the previous game, but “Colorado” still cannot win after the All-Star break.
