There’s perhaps been no better time for the young Russian netminder to grab the net than right now.

Every year, opportunity has found Carolina Hurricanes netminder Pyotr Kochetkov.

The rookie netminder first burst onto the scene in 2021-22 after an injury to Frederik Andersen sideline the Danish goaltender for the remainder of the season.

Kochetkov then won all three of his regular season appearances that year and while he wasn’t expected to play in the postseason, injuries to Antti Raanta forced him into action.

He won that first appearance against the Boston Bruins and who can forget this iconic moment?

In 2022-23, injuries to both Andersen and Raanta became much more frequent and so the young Russian goalie appeared in 24 games, posting a 12-7-5 record, with Carolina over the course of that season.

And wouldn’t you know it, Kochetkov is once again back with the Hurricanes after starting the year in the AHL.

Kochetkov has gotten the chance to make more and more of a case for himself every year, but could this be season where he puts it all together?

If it is, it’ll start with more consistent outings.

The two most important qualities for a goaltender to have are availability and consistency.

The first part is taken care of, so now it’s time to see if he can go on a run.

“[Consistency] is what you need in a goalie,” said Carolina head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “Make the saves you’re supposed to and if you can make a couple that maybe you shouldn’t, that’s huge for the group. It settles everything down, allows you to continue playing, keeps you in the game.”

However, consistency is a hard thing to find when you’re constantly bouncing between leagues, especially as a goaltender.

“It’s hard on a kid,” Brind’Amour said on the back and forth nature of callups. “You forget sometimes. He’s just a young kid and with a language barrier. There’s just a ton of stuff that these guys go through and we just kind of throw them all over the place. But he’s just responded. He’ll do whatever you ask him to do and we love him for that. He wants the net wherever he is so that’s a good quality.”

That’s been one of the things Kochetkov has done well throughout his career. Battling through despite not always finding that consistency.

He’s had a winning streak of three or more games just three times in his NHL career, but yet he has a winning record of 16-10-5.

He’s had 15 games where he’s posted below a 0.900 save percentage, yet he has five career shutouts.

Even this year, things started off tough for Kochetkov, with a 0-3-0 record, a 0.836 save percentage and a 4.33 goals against average but then he blanks the Tampa Bay Lightning in what was perhaps his calmest and most controlled game.

“Solid,” Brind’Amour said on his goaltender following that shutout win. “That’s what you’ve gotta have. If you get goaltending like that… the other team’s going to create opportunities and have chances and he looked like nothing was going to get by him tonight. That’s calming for the group.”

The talent is there. It’s always been there, but the question is: Can he be consistent with that talent.

“Consistency is the key for a goalie,” Raanta said. “You can do it one night but what about the next night?”

With Andersen sidelined for an indefinite amount of time, the Hurricanes are going to find out just what exactly they have with Pyotr Kochetkov and only time will tell if this was the beginning of something truly special in Raleigh.