Bruins Will See Goaltender Antti Raanta For First Time Since 2016 In Game 1 Vs. Hurricanes
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Bruins get their postseason underway Monday night in Raleigh, North Carolina against the Hurricanes, and will do so against a goaltender they haven't seen in years. Carolina is turning to 32-year-old Antti Raanta in net for Game 1, head coach Rod Brind'Amour announced Monday.
Raanta has faced the Bruins a grand total of twice during his nine-year NHL career, and he didn't even start one of those games. His only start against Boston came early in the 2016-17 regular season when he stopped 35 of the 37 pucks that went his way in a 5-3 win for the New York Rangers.
Of all the Bruins that suited up that November evening, only Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak and Brandon Carlo still rock the Spoked-B, with Bergeron and Pastrnak responsible for those two Boston goals nearly six years ago. Raanta's only other appearance against the Bruins was with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2015, when he replaced Corey Crawford in a 6-2 Boston win.
Monday night will be the first postseason start of Raanta's career. He was 15-5-4 with a 2.45 goals-against average and .912 save percentage for Carolina during the regular season.
The Hurricanes -- the top team in the Metro Division -- are turning to Raanta because top goalie Frederik Anderson remains out with a lower-body injury that he suffered in mid-April. There is no timetable for his return. Carolina will have rookie goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov (3-0 with a 2.42 GAA during the regular season) backing up Raanta for the time being.
Raanta appeared in seven games in April, going 4-1-0 with an .895 save percentage.
Boston lost all three regular season matchups against Carolina, outscored 16-1 by the Hurricanes. But the two teams haven't met since February, and Boston has gone through a lot of changes since then.
The Bruins will turn to Linus Ullmark in net, who allowed eight of those goals over his two appearances against Carolina.