Injury Notes: Gibson, Kochetkov, Forsberg

Anaheim Ducks goaltender John Gibson left the team’s Thursday night game with an upper-body injury, being replaced by backup Lukas Dostal. Gibson has missed time for a variety of reasons this season, being placed on the non-active list earlier in the year for the birth of his child, missing one game due to illness, and now nursing an injury that could limit him further. The absences have kept Gibson to just 26 appearances this season, with the former William Jennings Trophy-winner recording a 7-17-0 record and .900 save percentage on the season. He leads the league in losses.

While Dostal has shown promise, his stat line doesn’t fair much better than Gibson’s, with the 23-year-old goaltender setting a 7-9-1 record and .903 save percentage in 19 games this season. Dostal entered the season with just 23 NHL games under his belt, setting a combined .902 save percentage since making his debut in the 2021-22 season. The Ducks acquired Dostal in the third round of the 2018 NHL Draft. He was the sixth goalie to be taken that year and currently carries the most games played of any goalie in the class.

Other injury notes:

• The Carolina Hurricanes also lost their goaltender, with Pyotr Kochetkov leaving the team’s game after a collision with Anaheim’s Isac Lundestrom. Kochetkov was hit in the head but seemed to get his leg awkwardly stretched, making it hard to speculate what injury he could be facing. The 24-year-old has played in 23 games this season, goin 11-7-3 and setting a .900 save percentage.
• Ottawa Senators’ goaltender Anton Forsberg also joined the long list of injuries to occur on Thursday, leaving the team’s game after apparently tweaking something in his groin. The 31-year-old has managed 16 games, a 7-8-0 record, and a .889 save percentage this season.