Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Antti Raanta left Game Two against the Boston Bruins injured, suffering an upper-body injury. David Pastrnak was driving hard to the net and collided with Raanta, causing the injury.
Antti Raanta will not return to tonight’s game due to an upper-body injury.
— Hurricanes PR (@CanesPR) May 5, 2022
Antti Raanta Leaves Game Injured
Primary goaltender Frederik Andersen is already unavailable due to a lower-body injury. So having Raanta leave this game is a huge blow to the Canes. While their defence is certainly top-tier, they need solid goaltending to back them up. Raanta played a stellar game one, stopping 35 of 36 shots faced. Carolina relied on him to withstand the onslaught of offence Boston brought in the first period.
On the season, Raanta started in 26 games. He was 15-5-4 with a 0.912 save percentage and a 2.45 goals against average. Only allowing 62 goals on 706 shots faced, Raanta was an excellent option to turn to when Andersen went down with an injury.
What This Means For the Hurricanes
With now two starting goalies out, third-string goalie Pyotr Kochetkov is now manning the crease. While his numbers have been good in the minor leagues, this is a high-pressure playoff game with little NHL experience. It will be interesting to see if the Hurricanes adjust their game at all. Expect the defence to close down faster and try to prevent any shots from coming through at their inexperienced netminder.
Away from the crease, this series could get chippy fast. While it’s unlikely Pastrnak intentionally tried to injure Raanta, players will not take kindly to injuring their goaltender. Expect boos from fans and some more hacks and whacks Pastrnak’s way as this game and series go on. Hurricanes players will have to control their emotions if they want to stay out of the penalty box and give themselves a better chance to win this series.
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