‘Little bit of a maverick.’ How Hurricanes goalie Pyotr Kochetkov is getting the job done

Carolina Hurricanes goalie Pyotr Kochetkov came off being nervous, fidgety, unsure of himself.

But not in the crease, in a game. Not in his workplace.

Kochetkov was standing in front of a few TV cameras last week, agreeing to take some media questions, to put his still fledgling English to the test.

There was one sidelong glance toward Andrei Svechnikov, his fellow Russian who has volunteered to translate at times for his teammate. But Kochetkov had to go this one alone.

Why his good play of late, he was asked.

“The last few games I feel a little better,” said Kochetkov, 24. “I play more. I feel more confident, a little bit. The team, the last few games, has played well. I just feel more confidence.”

Has he been more aggressive in net?

“The last few games I have changed and I played a little more aggressive,” he said.

In his last game, last week against the Washington Capitals, Kochetkov stopped 15 of 17 shots. The Caps jumped to a 2-0 lead before the Canes surged in the third period, scoring five goals to win 6-2.

A few days earlier, Kochetkov had 28 saves and was the winning goalie as the Canes smacked the New York Rangers 6-1 at Madison Square Garden. On one play, Kochetkov went behind his net to play the puck, turned it over and put a body check on the Rangers’ Barclay Goodrow, allowing the Canes’ Brent Burns to gain possession.

“One moment I no see puck and I’m a little bit stressed,” he said. “I don’t know what I’m doing but I want no score.”

It’s plays like that — impulsive, unexpected — that can stress a goaltending coach like the Canes’ Paul Schonfelder a bit.

“He’s a bit of a maverick,” Schonfelder said in an N&O interview. “We look at video and try to give him an idea of what the right play should be, but he likes to get back there and help his D.”

‘He’s been a star’

When goalie Frederik Andersen suddenly was sidelined by a blood-clotting issue and then Antti Raanta temporarily lost his confidence and his way, it became Kochetkov’s net. The Canes needed him, badly, to step up and play well and the guy they call “Kooch” has done it.

How’s this? Kochetkov has gone 7-1-2 in his last 10 games with a 1.88 goals-against average and .931 save percentage. No other NHL goalie could top his seven wins in that 10-game stretch.

“He’s been huge,” Svechnikov said. “He’s been a star, for sure, with lots of big wins.”

With Raanta back from a short stint in the American Hockey League and winning his past two starts, the goaltending tension has eased. The Hurricanes (22-13-5) reeled off a five-game win streak and have points in their last six games heading into Thursday’s home game against the Anaheim Ducks.

“Kooch has played really well and that’s been the obvious thing,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said of his team’s recent turnaround.

Confidence, and consistency

Kochetkov, 24, has started 10 of the last 12 games for the Hurricanes and allowed two or fewer goals in eight of those. Always active in net and at times unorthodox in how he stops the pucks, flopping about in the crease, the Canes’ former second-round draft pick has become a lot more consistent in his play.

Schonfelder’s coaching assessment:

“Obviously confidence, right, but there’s more that goes into it. You can say he’s confident but there’s a reason why. For me, when I think of how he plays and when he’s successful, he’s aggressive. I think in the last seven or eight games he’s played at the top of his crease. He’s aggressive. I think when he plays that way he’s successful.

“Then, for him, it’s figuring out what he needs to do to be consistent. Obviously playing aggressive is one component of that. During the times he was struggling a little bit, each individual game looked a little different. Now you’re seeing that consistency.”

Kochetkov’s competitive fire

But he has always been fiery. That has not changed. Kochetkov is one intensely competitive goalie.

Whether it’s going face to face with Boston’s Brad Marchand, or sending Calgary’s Brady Tkachuk tumbling on a poke-check stop and then having heated words with the Flames captain, Kochetkov does not back down.

“I love his passion.” Schonfelder said. “I think that’s part of what makes him successful. Maybe the first couple of years in the American League we had some conversations about, ‘When you feel like you’re getting fired up, how to control it the right way and use it to your advantage and not to your disadvantage.’

“But a guy like that who’s really passionate and plays with a lot of fire, for me, I think it’s something that makes him successful; I don’t want to put a leash on that too much.”

Kochetkov’s passion can show in practice, too. On Wednesday, he stopped Teuvo Teravainen on a shootout shot, grabbing the puck with a swipe of the glove as Teravainen got off a shot from near the goal line. The goalie, smiling broadly, made a ‘no-goal’ wave with his arms as his teammates raised their sticks and cheered.

Schoenfelder would like to see Kochetkov hold on to his stick better. In the third period against the Caps, the goalie moved to his right and dropped the stick to make a blocker stop in tight against Aliaksei Protas.

It’s a habit Kochetkov formed as a young goalie in Russia, Schonfelder said, and one that has been tough to break.

“What you’re taught in Russia is when you have to make a desperation save, a lot of times you feel like it might help you to get rid of your stick, that it might ‘hold you back,’” Schonfelder said. “So there’s a bit of a foundation to why he does that. Sometimes, I think he does it and doesn’t realize he does it. We’re trying to eliminate those stick drops.”

After all, there’s time. He’s still young. He’s still learning how to express himself, on and off the ice.