The key facts
- Kochetkov won his first nine games of the season — the previous Carolina record was eight wins (Andersen, 2021/22)
- The Russian's streak is surpassed in NHL history only by Jack Campbell (11) and Carey Price (10)
Ninth straight win
Russian goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov of the Carolina Hurricanes set a new club record for consecutive wins from the start of the NHL regular season. In a game against Columbus that ended 3:2 in Carolina's favor, he earned his ninth win of the season, Life.ru reports.
The previous record and his place in league history
The previous club record belonged to Dane Frederik Andersen, who began the 2021/22 season with eight wins in eight games. Kochetkov matched that result on October 28, when Carolina beat the Boston Bruins 2:1 — the Russian stopped 14 of 15 shots on his net. He now stands alone atop the list of Hurricanes goaltenders with the longest winning streaks to open a season: no Carolina netminder had ever won the first nine games of a season before.
Context in NHL history
Kochetkov's achievement ranks among the best season-opening streaks in league history. Only Jack Campbell, who won 11 games with Toronto in 2020/21, and Carey Price, who took ten straight wins with Montreal in 2016/17, had previously posted longer streaks from the start of a season.
Other news about Russians in the NHL
In the same piece, the outlet recalls two recent storylines involving Russian players: Alexander Ovechkin had gone six straight NHL games without a goal, and after Washington's win over Philadelphia he closed the gap to Jaromir Jagr in career regular-season wins to one game. It was also previously reported that defenseman Dmitry Nikishin signed a $3 million contract with Carolina.
