The Hurricanes have ridden Frederik Andersen for most of the playoffs, but with Carolina’s season on the line Monday night, it has yet to decide who will be in nets.
After Andersen looked shaky and gave up a soft goal to tie Saturday’s Game 4 early in the third period, coach Rod Brind’Amour did not say whether he would stick with the Dane or go with Pyotr Kochetkov for Game 5 at Madison Square Garden.
“Just like we have all along,” Brind’Amour told reporters. “Talk to [goaltending coach Paul Schonfelder], see how the goalies feel, make a decision.”
Kochetkov got the call for the first time this postseason in Game 3, stopping 22 of 25 shots as the Rangers won 3-2 in overtime.
The overriding concern now is that Andersen is wearing down after the 34-year-old did not start back-to-back games once in the regular season after returning from a blood-clotting injury in mid-March.
Andersen started the entire first-round series against the Islanders and the first two games against the Rangers before finally getting a rest, but continued to look tired in Game 4.
He has not put in a single-game save percentage over .900 since Game 5 against the Islanders two weeks ago, though his 22 stops were enough for victory on Saturday.
“It doesn’t really matter which guy’s in there,” Jordan Martinook told reporters. “We have full faith in whichever one is between the pipes. You look at Kooch, his Game 3 was pretty incredible. Freddy made some big stops last night. Big ones at key moments, I feel like that’s what you need.
“Those games, if it goes the other way than you’re chasing it even more, big stage and big moments. Doesn’t matter which guy we’re going with, we’re happy with whoever’s in there.”
Analytically speaking, the Canes have had the better of this series, but the results have not backed that up.
Instead, the Rangers’ superiority on special teams has been the trump card as they hold a 3-1 lead with a chance to close out Carolina on home ice.
The Hurricanes, who scored on the power play for the first time all series with Brady Skjei’s game-winner Saturday, were doing as teams in their position do and trying to shift the pressure onto the opposition before Game 5.
“All I want to say, it’s gonna be a dogfight [Monday],” Evgeny Kuznetsov told reporters. “There is one bowl of food and two dogs, they’re gonna compete with each other. They know they don’t want to come back here [to Raleigh]. They know it’s gonna be hell here.”