Everyone Gets a Shot: Kochetkov Leads Hurricanes to Shutout Win Over Blues in Conclusion of Road Trip

The Western Conference road trip is done! The Carolina Hurricanes came out of the five-game journey with seven points, finishing things off with their win over the St. Louis Blues.

Fascinatingly, in their win, every player on the Hurricanes recorded at least one shot on goal – unsurprisingly led by Logan Stankoven, who forced goaltender Joel Hofer to make five saves, and perhaps surprisingly, his shot count was tied with the bottom line’s centerman, Skyler Brind’Amour, who also had five shots.

…Okay, one player did not have a shot on goal, and that was goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov – but he was certainly the man of the night as he finished the game with a perfect sheet, not allowing a single goal in the Hurricanes’ 4-0 win. Let’s get into the action, shall we?

The first period of the game didn’t see a single goal despite chances on both ends of the ice, but the second frame wouldn’t be the same case.

Scoring just 20 seconds apart were Sean Walker and Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Walker’s goal assisted by Jackson Blake for his 100th career NHL point.

Then, a little over midway through the game, Stankoven scored on an extension of the penalty kill, with a little helper by Seth Jarvis – his second of the night after assisting Kotkaniemi.

Early in the third period, Nikolaj Ehlers caught the attention of fans and media after he went to assist Kochetkov with the straps on his pads during a stoppage in play – jokingly being called an equipment manager. Hilariously, he was called that yet again by broadcaster Tripp Tracy when he scored moments later on the power play.

When the game concluded, Kochetkov had made a 24-save shutout, including swallowing 11 high-danger slot chances. Extending his season-opening winning streak to seven games, he has claimed the second best start in a season in franchise history, and the fourth longest winning streak to start a season leaguewide in the last ten years.

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