Captain Jordan Staal was among the first to greet Andersen upon his arrival and has been with through all the highs and lows.
Staal said Saturday was vintage Andersen, pointing specifically to a penalty kill early in the third period after defenseman Jalen Chatfield was whistled for interference at 2:40.
At 3:54, Drake Batherson thought he had tied the game 1-1, believing his wrist shot had beaten Andersen. Linemate Brady Tkachuk concurred, raising his hands joyously. The closest referee pointed emphatically toward the net, signaling a good goal.
Andersen wasn’t so sure.
“I had a good feeling that my glove wasn’t across the goal line, and I felt I got a good piece of it and the cameras agreed,” he said.
Andersen had stopped the shot with the cuff of his catching glove and then pushed it out; the goal was nullified on review.
“He bailed me out a couple of times (on the power play) because I was kind of swimming,” Staal said. “Throughout the game, he was just steady, eating pucks when he had to and even breaking out pucks. Doing all the things to help our team win.”
Later in the power play, Andersen had fallen onto the seat of his pants, yet he still found a way to stop Tkachuk. All told, Andersen made five saves on that power play.
He knows the building will be rocking again Monday, just as loud as it was when Staal fought Tkachuk off the opening face-off or when Logan Stankoven scored the first goal at 2:11 of the second period, or when Hall got the insurance goal at 7:15 of the third.
“It is pretty wild how loud it gets and how fun it is to play here,” Andersen said. “You saw it right away, obviously with the fight. The whole night, they are on their feet and very loud. So, it’s the best time of the year.”
It’s Andersen’s time of year.
