Man I wanted the Canes to get that series to game 7.
I thought that Carolina was the better team overall that series, but their goalie(s) got noticeably outplayed by their opponent's goalie. They held the Rangers to 25 shots or fewer in 3 of their 4 losses in this series, yet the goalies allowed 4, 3, and 4 goals in those games. They allowed 39 shots in the double OT loss where Freddie allowed 4 goals on 39 shots.
Carolina scored 3+ goals in 5 of the 6 games this series even with Shesterkin playing extremely well. Unlike past years, the offense scored goals. They put 18 goals past Shesterkin in 6 games and allowed just 156 shots (just 26 per game despite playing an 'extra' 29 minutes of OT in the series).
The goaltending simply wasn't good enough. I don't see any way to break this series down other than the conclusion that their goaltending lost it for them.
Carolina has a number of decisions to make regarding extensions this offseason, but they also have $27M in cap space with 17 players still under contract. They have spent years trying to take the next step by building an elite team in front of a low-budget tandem. I thinkit is time to abandon that plan and try to invest in a legit #1.
The Canes have Kochetkov signed for 3 more years at 2m AAV (4 years at 2m AAV deal). That to me implies they're looking to move on from the Raanta/Andersen tandem after this season, possibly re-signing one of the 35 year olds (Andersen turns 35 Oct 2), but also leaving them free to pursue someone this summer to play with Kochetkov who turns 25 this summer. I think Kochetkov needs a vet partner, but he's not far from being the guy in net for Carolina moving forward.
Kochetkov got 42 games this year, largely due to the injuries both the older guys dealt with...
Kochetkov 42gp 2.33gaa, 91.1 SV%
AHL 3gp 1.63gaa, 93.2 SV%
P/O 1gp 2.96gaa, 88.0 SV%
Raanta 24gp 2.99gaa, 87.2 SV%
AHL 8gp 3.54gaa, 87.3 SV%
Andersen 16gp 1.84gaa, 93.2 SV%
P/O 10gp 2.62gaa, 89.5 SV%
Edit: didn't notice that Capfriendly had rolled their contract years over... Andersen/Kochetkov will be their tandem this next year as Raanta is a UFA.
Sigh. Disregard this post...