If, on April 17, someone had postulated that among the 16 teams about to begin their 2026 Stanley Cup Playoff journey, eight would use two goalies, it\u2019s a fair bet most would have included the Carolina Hurricanes among the group that used two keepers.<\/p>\n
Read more How Stephen Colbert Took a Parting Shot at CBS During Last ‘Late Show’<\/a><\/p>\n If, on May 2, on the cusp of the second round of the NHL playoffs, someone had offered that among the eight teams advancing to the second round, five would use two goalies through the completion of that round, it would have been an even safer bet to count the Hurricanes among those<\/i> teams.<\/p>\n Wrong. On both counts.<\/p>\n With the NHL field now whittled to four teams, two remain who\u2019ve used just one goalie \u2014 Vegas (Carter Hart) and Carolina (Andersen). Whoever had that on their NHL playoff bingo card deserves all the appropriate bingo hall tchotchke love.<\/p>\n You could argue that the Hurricanes made life easier for Andersen than other teams have for their goalies in a few ways. Through two rounds, of the goalies who have played eight or more games so far this postseason, Andersen saw the second-fewest shots among them (201). Hurricanes players blocked 109 shots in front of Andersen through eight games, and scored an average of three goals per game in front of him.<\/p>\n You could also argue that Andersen made life easy for the Hurricanes in that same vein. Of the 201 shots he saw, Andersen stopped 191 of them, a save percentage of .950. To put that in perspective, the only goalie with a better percentage in this year\u2019s playoffs, regardless of time played, is Joonas Korpisalo of Boston, who saw just six shots in 13 minutes of action, and stopped them all.<\/p>\n Andersen allowed 1.12 goals per 60 minutes through eight games, and truly turned every game he played to that point into \u201cfirst to three goals wins\u201d \u2014 perfect for a team averaging \u2026 three goals per game.<\/p>\n \u201cBeen patient, building toward a good stance, good movement, movement\u2019s been good,\u201d Andersen said earlier this week, providing a very \u201cgoalie-speak\u201d answer to his playoff success. \u201cJust kind of been building my foundation that I feel like is giving me the best chance of being in the way of the puck.\u201d<\/p>\n Then Thursday\u2019s 6-2 Game 1 loss happened.<\/p>\n Twenty-seven seconds after Carolina scored to open the game, Montreal\u2019s 51-goal phenom, Cole Caufield, struck back. About three minutes later, it was Danault. Another four minutes after that, Texier.<\/p>\n First to three, right? How about four? That\u2019s how many Andersen allowed in half a period Thursday.<\/p>\n To head coach Rod Brind\u2019Amour\u2019s credit, he didn\u2019t panic-pull Andersen. He didn\u2019t replace him at the end of the period, either, choosing instead to stick with the Great Dane.<\/p>\n I was among the many who questioned whether the Hurricanes\u2019 goaltending is good enough to withstand another playoff push as constructed.<\/p>\n I wondered this in the fall<\/a>,<\/u> even before a rash of injuries ravaged the room.<\/p>\n I wondered it again as it got closer to the trade deadline<\/u><\/a>, and dissected the team\u2019s options at the time.<\/p>\n Through two rounds, many argued that Andersen has proven those questions moot. \u201cMany\u201d were right.<\/p>\n Kinda, sorta.<\/p>\n But there was always an air of inevitability, right? At some point, the Hurricanes were bound to get tested. At some point, they were going to fall behind, whether due to bad bounces, bad luck, or poor play. The questions were always: \u201cWhat will the Canes do when that happens? What will Andersen do?\u201d<\/p>\n Thursday, it happened.<\/p>\n Brind\u2019Amour answered the first obvious question when he chose to stick with Andersen after the four goals \u2014 and after the Canadiens\u2019 fifth later in the third period as well.<\/p>\n Read more Meet the 8 students representing NC in the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee<\/a><\/p>\n During the regular season, it was Brandon Bussi who seized control of the starter\u2019s crease. Pyotr Kochetkov\u2019s decision to shut it down early and fix a lingering issue via surgery, combined with a sluggish start from Andersen, thrust the rookie-but-not-a-rookie goalie into a prime-time role, in which he thrived<\/u>.<\/a> Bussi went 31-6-2 with a 2.47 goals-against average in 39 games, and earned the team MVP award<\/u><\/a> as voted on by the Raleigh-area media.<\/p>\n He started to show signs of wear by the end of the season, though. He still won seven of his 11 starts in March and April, but his GAA over those games was 3.08 and his save percentage was .866.<\/p>\n Andersen, meanwhile, went 8-4 during that same stretch, but his residuals were far better.<\/p>\n Brind\u2019Amour admitted last week that the plan was to use at least those two goalies during the postseason.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody predicted (we\u2019d only use Andersen),\u201d Brind\u2019Amour said in the leadup to Thursday\u2019s Game 1. \u201cWe certainly went into the playoffs thinking, \u2018OK, we\u2019re probably going to use both. Why not? They both deserve to play.\u2019 There\u2019s just been no reason to go in any other direction. (Andersen) has just been, he\u2019s playing lights out. Obviously we need that to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n Thursday, whether because of rust or re-emergent bad habits \u2014 or both \u2014 \u201cthat\u201d did not continue. Now, the second, bigger question is in play: After an imperfect outing from Andersen, do we see Bussi \u2014 who\u2019s even colder in terms of game action \u2014 get a start? Is Kochetkov back to full strength? He\u2019s even colder than Bussi.<\/p>\n Brind\u2019Amour, predictably, wouldn\u2019t commit to anything after the game Thursday. It is, after all, the Eastern Conference Final.<\/p>\n But the eventual answer, despite the clamoring of a vocal minority, is likely the status quo, with a caveat: Another early deficit should probably mean an early hook.<\/p>\n The lukewarm take: Kochetkov, assuming equal health, should get a really strong look as the option to step in, despite all of Bussi\u2019s contributions.<\/p>\n The Canadiens\u2019 speed gave the Hurricanes problems for a while Thursday, and Montreal isn\u2019t going to slow down. Andersen, to his credit, was solid playing the puck on dump-in attempts, and is easily the better of the three in that department. But Kochetkov is also better at playing the puck than Bussi, who has had some adventures away from his crease this season. In a series where every mistake is magnified, with all the opportunities the goalies are going to have to play the puck, eliminating the chance of a puckhandling error is by itself a reason to lean toward Kochetkov.<\/p>\n Maybe the answer really is \u201cnothing.\u201d Maybe it\u2019s a wait-and-see situation, which in most markets, for most teams with a goalie who was lights out for eight games before an 11-day break, would be.<\/p>\n But let\u2019s not forget: Carolina is now 1-17 in its past 18 Eastern Conference Final games. If there is any knock on Brind\u2019Amour and his team over the past eight playoff-bound seasons it\u2019s that none of those playoff runs have even had a prayer to extend beyond this round. That added perspective matters.<\/p>\n Carolina is still one of two remaining NHL playoff teams to have used just one goalie in these playoffs. It might be time to consider changing that.<\/p>\n