The Carolina Hurricanes found another way to win Saturday evening, moving the team to 5-0-0 on the season and remaining as the only undefeated team in the National Hockey League.
The Canes started on time
Saturday night in Los Angeles, and for the first half of the game, it seemed as though Carolina would run away with it.
Before the scorebug on FanDuel Sports Network began counting the time in the game, Jordan Staal scored.
The Captain scored just 12 seconds into the game versus Los Angeles.
Staal’s tally was his 300th of his career.
With that goal, Jordan and Eric Staal are just the fourth pair of brothers to score at least 300 goals each in the NHL. The Staals join legends Maurice and Henri Richard, Bobby and Dennis Hull, and Brent and Brian Sutter in this elite and unique club.
Hurricanes analyst Tripp Tracy said that the elder Eric texted him after Jordan’s goals, expressing his excitement for his brother.
Just after the conclusion of a Canes power play, Staal found himself alone in the slot and buried his second of the game.
At the 16:02 mark of the first, Carolina was up 2-0.
After 20, the Canes finished with a two-goal lead and a 13-8 shot advantage.
The concern was Shayne Gostisbehere heading to the locker room with a few minutes left in the first period. The Hurricanes announced during the intermission that the league’s highest-scoring defenseman this season would not return to the game.
After the first intermission, the Canes were ready to play. Jesperi Kotkaniemi returned to the lineup tonight, and made his case to stay on the ice.
K’Andre Miller’s great defensive pinch forced the puck from the Kings. Miller’s nifty forehand-backhand pass to Kotkaniemi sprung a breakaway, and KK finished on the backhand.
Less than a minute later, Trevor Moore’s one-timer from above the dots fooled Brandon Bussi due to a passing screen by former Hurricane Warren Foegele. Moore scored in his fifth straight game against the Hurricanes and cut the lead to two.
At the 14:36 mark, Foegele’s elbow to the chin of Bussi nullified Moore’s second goal of the game.
At this point in the second, the Kings had the moment. Bussi’s best save of the night came with about eight minutes left. A fumbled rebound led to a great chance by LA, and Bussi sprawled to make the pad save.
With just about four minutes left, Jackson Blake went off for a slash, and Los Angeles brought it to within one of an Andrei Kuzmenko power play goal.
Until this point, Staal had won 11 straight faceoffs. Just eight ticks into the power play, the Kings won the faceoff in their offensive zone. A couple of bounces on a shot from the point led to an easy goal on the doorstep for Kuzmenko.
Jordan Martinook was held with just over a minute left in the period to put the Canes back on the man advantage. Blake’s quickness and stickhandling caused Foegele to extend and trip him, and gave Carolina 1:26 of a five-on-three that bled into the third.
Nikolaj Ehlers was doing everything he could to tally a point on that power play in the third. The Dane had two great chances within the first minute of the third with a fake pass turned backhander and a feed to Seth Jarvis on the doorstep.
The Canes could not convert, and the Kings started to control the game.
Bussi deserves a lot of credit for keeping Carolina in the game. A wraparound chance by the Kings was just inches from crossing the goal line, and another sprawling Bussi save kept the Canes ahead by one.
With just under nine minutes left, LA had an excellent transition that forced a couple of Hurricanes defenders into each other and opened up a clean shot from Kevin Fiala to tie the game.
The Canes dodged a bullet with about three and a half minutes left when an Alexander Nikishin fumble at the blue line led to a Kings breakaway. Bussi stood tall in the crease, and Moore pushed his shot wide left.
Carolina squandered a three-goal lead, but made it to the extra session to at least earn a point.
Once the Canes got possession of the puck during overtime, it seemed as though it was just a matter of time. Miller replaced Gostisbehere as the defenseman assigned to Jarvis and Sebastian Aho.
The trio focused on puck possession, and this patience paid off when a feed from Aho pinballed to Jarvis who hammered it home.
Jarvis’s overtime winner was his fourth of the young season. He etched his name in the NHL scoring books by becoming the first player to have four game winners in the first five games of a regular season.
This is the third time in franchise history that the team started the season with at least five straight wins. This year’s squad joins the 2019-20 (5) and 2021-22 (9) teams with such a hot start.
The Hurricanes were an impressive 62 percent from the faceoff circle. Staal won 90 percent of his draws, with Kotkaniemi and Logan Stankoven both winning more than 60 percent of their faceoffs.
Miller and Sean Walker carried the load for the Canes’ defense after Gostisbehere left with an injury. Miller and Walker finished with 27 and 26 minutes on the ice, respectively.
After the game, head coach Rod Brind’Amour commented that Gostisbehere said he “tweaked something” in the lower body, and it was not good news for a defensive corps that is already missing Jaccob Slavin. Stay tuned to Canes Country for injury updates.
After coming off their fourth straight playoff appearance last season, Los Angeles has lost four of their first five games to start the 2025-26 campaign.
The Hurricanes are back in action on Monday night in Las Vegas. Puck drop against the Golden Night is 10:00 PM ET.
00:12 1st: Jordan Staal (2); W. Carrier (2), J. Martinook (4)
03:58 1st: Jordan Staal (3); M. Reilly (2), J. Chatfield (2)
03:43 2nd: Jesperi Kotkaniemi (1); K. Miller (1)
01:45 OT: Seth Jarvis (6); S. Aho (6), K. Miller (2)
