NEWARK, N.J. -- Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said he was "frustrated" when no penalty was given to New Jersey Devils forward Timo Meier after injuring goaltender Frederik Andersen in Game 4 on Sunday afternoon.
Andersen left the game after a collision with Meier in his crease with 15:41 left in the second period. Hurricanes backup Pyotr Kochetkov made 14 saves after entering the game, leading Carolina to a 5-2 win and a commanding 3-1 lead in this Eastern Conference first-round series.
Meier drove hard to the net in anticipation of a pass by teammate Ondrej Palat. With Carolina winger Andrei Svechnikov defending him, Meier turned his body in anticipation of the puck and his hip connected with Andersen's upper body. The Carolina goalie fell to the ice and did not return to the game.
Brind'Amour offered no update on Andersen's status, saying the goaltender will be evaluated in Raleigh on Monday.
There was no penalty called at the time of the collision. After play stopped, the on-ice officials announced a major penalty against Meier, but after reviewing the play they opted not to penalize him.
The Hurricanes led 3-1 when Andersen was injured. Meier cut the lead to 3-2 at 7:34 of the second, beating Kochetkov for his first goal of the playoffs.
Brind'Amour said he was surprised his team received no power-play benefit from Andersen's injury.
"I guess the best way I would think it is that if [the puck] goes in, it's 100 percent goalie interference. So there was clearly contact. You're not really supposed to go in there. It may be a little bump, but he's a big guy, he could stop," the coach said. "We do feel like we try to protect the goalie quite a bit in this league, for the goalie interference stuff [where] nobody knows what's going on. That was the frustrating part."
Carolina captain Jordan Staal was also surprised there was no penalty on Meier.
"Yeah, obviously we don't want to see our starting goaltender go down, and we'd obviously like more of a call. They had an opportunity to look it over in slow motion. I haven't seen it yet, but I guess they thought there was enough of a hook to run over goalie, which we don't love, but it is what it is," he said.
Svechnikov, who had a hat trick in the Hurricanes win, said he didn't remember pushing or hooking Meier before the collision with Andersen.
Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said he "wasn't expecting much" in terms of a penalty for Meier on the play.
"I mean, anytime they're going to look at it, you're concerned, but from my perspective, it looked like it's pretty incidental. They told me [that] looking at it was just confirming what they thought on the ice, which is that it was not worthy of a penalty," Keefe said. "The rules being what they are gives the officials the opportunity to take a look, which they should take advantage of. They did and clearly they thought there was nothing there."
Staal said one of the keys to Carolina's eventual victory was not overreacting to Meier's play or the referees' decision.
"In the past, we've gotten caught up in refs and being frustrated and losing our cool. I thought tonight the guys did a much better job of just accepting tough calls," he said. "It is part of the game, and you see it every night, and you see it all over the league. It's a fast game. It's their human nature. You want to just keep moving forward. I thought tonight we did a good job."
Game 5 is in Raleigh on Tuesday. Carolina is looking to advance to the second round for the fifth straight season under Brind'Amour. One key reason for its lead over the Devils: a penalty kill that has gone 12-for-12 against the New Jersey power play. Andersen is a big reason for that, saving all 13 shots he has faced while short-handed.