Getty Image
The Carolina Hurricanes headed into the current NHL season with a fairly lackluster goaltending situation that led to the team deciding to (at least initially) rely on a tandem that will see Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov split time in net, and Dmitry Orlov made a clutch move to prevent that plan from being derailed by saving the latter from a lengthy suspension.
Saturday’s slate of NHL games featured a showdown between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Blues in St. Louis that saw the home team pull out to a 3-1 lead in the second period before blowing it a few minutes into the third. However, Kasperi Kapanen was able to answer just a couple of minutes later with what ended up being the game-winning goal in the 4-3 win.
Frederik Andersen got his second start of the season for the Canes but was sitting on the bench alongside backup Pyotr Kochetkov after Carolina pulled the goalie in the hopes of pulling off a comeback that did not end up coming to fruition.
Things got a bit chippy at the end of the contest thanks to a cheap crosscheck Andrei Svechnikov delivered on Robert Thomas near the boards after the final horn blew, which sparked a lengthy scrum involving basically every player on the ice that was eventually diffused before any serious fights broke out.
After the dust settled, we were treated to a clip that showed Kochetkov attempting to leave the bench to help out his teammates before Dmitry Orlov pulled an incredibly heads-up move by forcibly grabbing the netminder to stop him from entering the fray.
PK HELD BACK BY ORLOV 😭😭😭 LET HIM FIGHT‼️
do not remove the credit if reposting pic.twitter.com/FOSRELgjWo
— ilya 🐻❄️🐻 (@kotikappa) October 20, 2024
Why was that so clutch? Well, rule 70.10 of the NHL rulebook states that the first player to come off of the bench “illegally during an altercation or for the purpose of starting an altercation” will be automatically hit with a 10-game suspension over the infraction.
Smart man.