Hurricanes vs. Blues: Pyotr Kochetkov's 24-Save Shutout Keeps His Perfect Start Rolling in 4-0 Win

The St. Louis Blues had their looks. Dylan Holloway and Jimmy Snuggerud got to the dangerous ice early, a Blues skater went in alone early in the second period, and Enterprise Center was buzzing off a two-game win streak. Every single one of those chances ended in the same place: the glove, pads or blocker of Pyotr Kochetkov.

Kochetkov stopped all 24 shots he faced, Carolina scored three times in the second period, and the Hurricanes left St. Louis with a 4-0 win on Saturday night. It was Kochetkov's first shutout of the season and the 12th of his NHL career, and it ran his record this season to seven starts, seven wins. Nobody in the league has a longer active winning streak, according to the AP.

Twenty Seconds, Two Goals, One Quiet Building

The first period was scoreless, and for a while it felt like the kind of game that would hinge on one mistake. The Blues pushed first. Carolina absorbed it, and Kochetkov kept the sheet clean through a frame in which St. Louis created some high-danger chances, per NHL.com.

Early in the second, the Blues got a breakaway, one that Nikolaj Ehlers later admitted came off his own turnover. Kochetkov turned it aside. A few minutes later, the game flipped in the span of a TikTok.

At 4:45 of the second, Jackson Blake drew a delayed tripping call, Kochetkov went to the bench for an extra skater, and Blake slid a pass into the slot for a Sean Walker one-timer. It was Walker's first goal of the season and Blake's 100th career point, per the AP. Twenty seconds later, Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jordan Martinook worked a give-and-go out of the left corner, and Kotkaniemi finished inside the right post for a 2-0 lead at 5:05.

That was the whole ballgame in two shifts. St. Louis spent the rest of the night trying to climb out of a hole it had dug in less time than it takes to microwave a burrito.

The Turning Point: Survive the Kill, Then Go

If the 20-second double tap opened the door, the next sequence slammed it. Carolina took its only penalty of the game later in the second, and the Blues had a real chance to get back within one. Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said afterward that Kochetkov "made a couple saves" on that kill, and the Blues came away empty.

Then Seth Jarvis sprung Logan Stankoven from the Carolina zone, and Stankoven raced in alone and beat Joel Hofer short side at 13:35. Brind'Amour knew exactly how big that was: "What a great play by 'Jars' up to 'Stanks.'" In his view, a Blues power-play goal in that spot "could have swung the game."

Instead of 2-1, it was 3-0. Ballgame, part two.

Ehlers closed it out at 4:30 of the third on Carolina's lone power play. Sebastian Aho grabbed a loose puck in the slot and found Ehlers in the left circle with half the net open. Ehlers had been the guy whose turnover sparked that Blues breakaway earlier. Redemption arcs do not get much tidier.

Koots Stays Perfect

Kochetkov was the story, and his coach was not shy about it. "When we had a couple breakdowns, 'Koots' was great," Brind'Amour said. "He's obviously the first star of the night for me." Brind'Amour also praised his goalie's puck handling behind the net, the kind of quiet work that keeps a forecheck from ever getting started.

The stakes are getting real now. One more win and Kochetkov ties Frederik Andersen's 2021-22 franchise mark for consecutive wins to open a season, according to both the AP and NHL.com. He has been splitting the net with Brandon Bussi, and the box scores tell a wild story: Carolina is 7-0 when Kochetkov starts and 2-2-2 when Bussi does.

Stankoven scored his team-leading eighth goal of the season, his fourth in three games, according to NHL.com. He is shooting like a man with a personal grudge against every goalie west of Raleigh.

Aho and Jarvis had two assists each. For Jarvis, those were his first two assists of the season, per the scoring summary. Walker chipped in more than the goal, logging 20:49 with three blocked shots. Kotkaniemi won 10 of his 16 faceoffs and scored his third goal.

On the other end, Hofer made 35 saves and deserved better than a four-spot. St. Louis was shut out for the first time this season, per the AP, and the Blues never got a single puck past a goalie who seemed to know where every shot was going before the shooter did.

Stats That Matter

• 39-24: Carolina's shot advantage. The Hurricanes outshot St. Louis in a game where the Blues had arguably the better start.
• 20 seconds: The gap between Walker's goal and Kotkaniemi's. That was the night.
• 8-2: Carolina's edge in takeaways. The Hurricanes kept stripping pucks, and the Blues kept coughing them up.
• 1-for-1: Carolina's power play. St. Louis went 0-for-1, and that failed chance led straight to a 3-0 hole.
• 7-1-1: Carolina's road record after closing a five-game trip at 3-1-1, per NHL.com.

What It Means

Carolina moves to 9-2-2 with 20 points and bounces back from a 6-5 shootout loss in Edmonton two nights earlier. Ehlers was blunt about the difference: "we like that third period a lot better than the last one against Edmonton," he said. The Hurricanes now head home to host Boston on Tuesday night.

The Blues fall to 5-5-1 with 11 points. They had won two straight to open a five-game homestand, including a 6-2 win over Vegas two nights earlier, and this was their first regulation loss at home this season, leaving them 3-1-1 at Enterprise Center. Montreal visits Tuesday night.

Jim Montgomery did not sugarcoat it. "Very humbling," the St. Louis coach said, calling Carolina "an elite team in the League, if not the elite team in the League." Colton Parayko struck a more patient tone: "We definitely had our chances, but just kind of got to build and learn, make sure that we continue to push forward."

Class Is in Session

Montgomery used the word "tutorial" to describe what Carolina put on, and it fits. "They were as committed in the third period up 3-0, up 4-0 as they were at the start of the game," he said. That is the scariest thing about this Hurricanes team: there is no coast mode. St. Louis got the full lesson, start to finish, with Kochetkov as the guest lecturer who never let a single question get through.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press and NHL.com; postgame quotes as reported by NHL.com.