Could Hurricanes start Frederik Andersen over Antti Raanta in Game 6? ‘There’s a chance’

In two seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes, Frederik Andersen has yet to appear in a playoff game for them. That could change Friday night.

Every indication at Thursday’s practice, when Andersen had one net to himself and took the usual next-game-starter’s workload, was that the Hurricanes were at least considering making the switch for Game 6 at the New York Islanders, up 3-2 in the series and hoping to avoid returning home for a third straight Game 7.

“Yep. There’s a chance,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Thursday. “He’s definitely, like we said — earlier, there was no chance, and he’s definitely right there (now).”

Antti Raanta has been stellar in the series, stopping 126 of 139 shots as the Hurricanes have taken a 3-2 lead — his .906 save percentage is fourth in the NHL going into Thursday’s game — but he did not appear in six consecutive games during the regular season as the Hurricanes regularly rotated their goalies.

Raanta did start 11 straight games in last year’s postseason but suffered two injuries, the last as the New York Rangers eliminated the Hurricanes with a Game 7 win in Raleigh and would have kept him out for the next series.

Brind’Amour was asked Thursday if he thought Raanta was wearing down under the workload, but demurred.

“It’s just, again, we didn’t do it this year like that,” Brind’Amour said. “No, I think he’s been really solid, and he looked good out there again today. Not an issue.”

Andersen dressed for the first game of this series, then missed the next three with what was originally deemed an illness and then changed to an injury. He was back in uniform and backing up Raanta in Game 5 on Tuesday. Asked if he felt like he was back to 100 percent if asked to play tomorrow, Andersen nodded: “I’m on the ice, so yeah.”

There are, however, two very logical reasons why the Hurricanes would make the switch. One, it’s what they’ve done all year and they came into the series expecting to use both goalies at some point. Two, Raanta may have been playing through some soreness or minor injury, and Andersen’s new availability has opened the door to giving him a game off with Raanta in reserve for Game 7 at home, where Tuesday’s loss was his first at PNC Arena all season.

Or, Thursday’s practice was just an opportunity for Andersen to get some work in case he’s needed. That’s a possibility as well. The playoffs are rife with smokescreens, and giving out little hints to unsettle the Islanders is exactly the kind of shenanigan that teams (although not usually the Hurricanes) will employ.

“We are confident in both guys that we have,” Hurricanes defenseman Brady Skjei said. “It doesn’t change anything crazy. ‘Raants’ has obviously played really solid for us so far and I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen, who’s playing, but we feel comfortable with both of them in there. It’s obviously one of the most important positions in the playoffs, goaltending. If (Raanta’s) not playing and gets some rest and lets Freddie play, and who knows what they’re doing, but we feel good.”

Andersen didn’t dress for any of the 14 games of the 2022 playoffs with a torn medial collateral ligament in his knee, although he said he could have played in the Eastern Conference finals if the Hurricanes had beaten the Rangers — and the Hurricanes would have needed him with Raanta unavailable.

“I haven’t played in the playoffs for a while, so of course I’d be excited to play,” Andersen said. “But that’s up to the coaching staff and I’m just happy to be a part of the team and not sitting up top like last year, watching. But yeah, I feel good to go.”

As for the rest of the team, given that Andersen started 33 regular-season games, Raanta started 26 and Pyotr Kochetkov 24, and none of the three started more than five games in a row — there were only five instances where the same goalie started three consecutive games — there would be nothing unusual about a different guy in net, even in a potential close-out game.

“It doesn’t change anything,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. “We’ve got two really great goaltenders and we knew we’d need both of them at some point, whether that’s tomorrow or not is yet to be seen. But we’re very comfortable playing in front of both of them — all three of them.”

It would go against the grain, certainly, to switch things up now by NHL standards, if not the Hurricanes’ own. They did it all season, and if anything they drew strength from it. As good as Raanta’s been, it took both goalies to get the team to this position. It might take both to get the Hurricanes into the next round.

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