Four months ago, nobody was sure if Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen would ever suit up again.
His 2023-24 season was put on hold just six games into it after a blood-clotting issue was shockingly discovered on a medical test.
However, fast forward to today and the Danish netminder is now 6-0-0 since returning with a 0.928 save percentage, a 1.5 goals against average and even a shutout.
"It's Freddie," said forward Sebastian Aho when asked if he was surprised by how good Andersen has been since returning. "I've seen him do this stuff over and over and the whole team obviously trusts him a lot, but you never know. You were almost a little nervous for him. After that long of an injury you hope to see him have a good start, which he obviously had and ever since then, he hasn't looked back. He's looked very calm as always actually. It's huge for us. He's one of the best goalies in the world, so happy to have him."
"I'm not surprised, but I didn't know what to expect," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "We know that he's a great goalie, but when you're out that long, I don't care what position you play, there's going to be some rust factor, but he certainly doesn't look like he has any of that."
His most recent performance, a 31-save performance in a 2-1 win over his old club, the Toronto Maple Leafs was spectacular Sunday night at PNC Arena.
We're talking multiple saves off of odd-man rushes, deflections in tight, mad scrambles in the crease and so much more.
"I got to give Freddie a tone of credit," said defenseman Brady Skjei. "He was our best player tonight."
But perhaps no save was bigger than his stop on Bobby McMann after a turnover led to a 2-on-0 chance for the Maple Leafs.
Andersen battled for his team and was a key component in the win.
But he did get a bit of run support too.
Brady Skjei broke the ice just 1:06 into the game as his seeing-eyer-wrister glided through traffic and beat Toronto netminder Joseph Woll under the glove.
"I just try to get it through and on net and through the traffic," Skjei said. "That one luckily sneaked in. That wasn't exactly where I was trying to shoot, but we'll take it."
Then Sebastian Aho picked up another goal with a lucky bounce on the power play. Aho attempted to go cross-ice, but his pass hit Maple Leaf defenceman Jake McCabe's skate and redirected in past Woll.
"That's how it works sometimes," Aho said. "I'll take it."
And then there was a few times where the Hurricanes skaters had to help Andersen out too, such as Skjei and Evgeny Kuznetsov teaming up to sweep a loose puck off the goal line and then Skjei getting in the crease to deny an Auston Matthews chance following an Andersen stickhandling misadventure.
"Everyone buys into helping out the team," Andersen said. "Sometimes you get a little help from your D-men and forwards. Obviously nice, but when everyone buys in like that, we'll be rewarded."
Overall, it was a good team win against a high-end opponent. Special teams was back to its standards too as the power play went 1-for-3 and the penalty kill was a perfect 4-for-4.
"The kill gives us a lot of momentum and it gives us a little boost every time we kill a penalty," Aho said. "We've been doing a solid job as of late and both goalies, it doesn't matter who we have in net, they always give us a chance to be aggressive because that's your most important guy on the kill: the goalie. Once again, an unbelievable game by Freddie."
And again, who would have expected Andersen to have been as good as he's been right out of the gate. He couldn't exercise for months. He only got back on the ice a month before his return.
And yet, he's been one the best goaltenders in the league.
"I haven't really thought too much about it," Andersen said. "Just trying to do what I can to be at my best. I've had a lot of help here and a great support system around me. Just been really fun. You appreciate being back and doing what you love. It feels good."
Carolina, who's now just a single point behind in the Presidents' Trophy race much thanks to that special goaltending, will now head back onto the road to to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins Tuesday night.