The Carolina Hurricanes gave their fans heartbreaking news on Tuesday when they reported that right winger Andrei Svechnikov of Barnaul, Russia would miss the remainder of the 2022-23 National Hockey League season with reconstructive surgery on his right anterior cruciate ligament according to Michael Hoad of Yahoo! Sports. This was a huge loss for the Hurricanes who had Stanley Cup aspirations this season.
How did the injury happen?
Svechnikov seemed to injure his ACL while skating in the neutral zone in a 4-0 Hurricanes loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday. The Hurricanes forward did not have any contact with a Golden Knights player when he stumbled in the second period. Svechnikov did return for the third period, but did not play in Carolina’s 3-0 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Sunday.
2022-23 NHL Statistics
In 64 games, Svechnikov had 23 goals and 32 assists for 55 points. He was a +6 with 71 penalty minutes, 16 power-play points, four game-winning goals, 205 shots on goal, four faceoff wins, 17 blocked shots, 140 hits, 35 takeaways and 49 giveaways.
Svechnikov had two hat tricks this season against the Edmonton Oilers. The first came in a 6-4 Hurricanes loss to the Oilers on October 20, and the second came in a 7-2 Hurricanes win over the Oilers on November 10. Svechnikov had three more three-point games for the Hurricanes this season. They came in a 5-1 Carolina win in Seattle against the Kraken on October 17 (two goals and one assist), in a 6-2 Carolina win over the Montreal Canadiens on February 16 (three assists), and in a 4-1 Carolina win over the St. Louis Blues on February 21 (two goals and one assist).
More playing time for Jesse Puljujarvi?
Speaking of the Oilers, with the loss of Svechnikov, the Hurricanes are expected to give Jesse Puljujarvi additional playing time. Puljujarvi was traded from the Oilers to the Hurricanes at the trade deadline. So far in 2022-23, he has five goals and nine assists for 14 points in 61 games.
Stanley Cup Aspirations
Carolina currently has the second most points in the National Hockey League. With 96 points, they are nine points back of the Boston Bruins.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
