Bradly Nadeau continued his scorching preseason with a goal and the game winner in the shootout, both Brandon Bussi and Cayden Primeau were strong in net against Florida’s regulars, and the Carolina Hurricanes won their only preseason game in front of the Lenovo Center fans Tuesday night with a 3-2 shootout win.
The first period showed just how big the disparity was between the Florida regulars and the Hurricanes’ minor leaguers as they dominated play for the first part of the period. That domination
led to to Brady Tkachuk still looking to exact some revenge on how the Canes ruled over him during the playoffs last season as he gave Florida an early 1-0 lead just four minutes in. Carolina wouldn’t back down, though, and a little over two minutes later Bradley Nadeau continued his case to stay with the main club by snapping a shot by Jacob Markstrom, making his second straight start.
The good feeling was shorted-lived, though, as before the goal could even be announced the Panthers took the face-off back down the ice, where Aleksander Barkov was all alone, snapping a shot that Hurricanes starter Brandon Bussi probably would have liked to have had back and just 18 seconds later, giving Florida a 2-1 lead. They looked to extend that lead with a power play, but the penalty killers held strong and from that point forward the game was even. The period ended with the Canes on a 5-on-3.
The second was tilted more towards Carolina, showing this squad had learned something from the game on Sunday night. While they didn’t convert on the 5-on-3, they outshot Florida 11-7 and were able to tie it thanks to a nifty snap shot from the dot by Justin Robidas.
The Canes held their own for the rest of the period as Florida seemed to wake up with that goal, but the period ended with Florida on a power play. Going into the third, Florida mostly controlled play but were unable to get a puck by Primeau who had come on in relief of Bussi with a little under ten minutes in the second. Florida would outshoot Carolina 10-8, and even in the 3-on-3 overtime the Panthers would dictate play with the Canes’ Power Play having to play defense more than offense. Carolina was able to get a few shots on Akira Schmid, who also came in of relief with a little under ten minutes to go of Jacob Markstrom. Schmid didn’t face nearly as much action as Primeau but held firm with the little work he had to do.
The game would move on to the shootout, where Rod Brind’Amour would give one regular and two young players a chance to be heroes. Fittingly, the only player for Carolina to miss was the regular Mark Jankowski, while both Nadeau and Felix Unger Sorum were able to get a shot by Schmid to lock in the win.
The next time the Canes will play in Lenovo it will be against these same Panthers, in the game that will see the Cup Banner raised to start the 2026-27 regular season. Before then, Carolina has a game in Greensboro on Thursday where more of the regulars are expected to see some action, and then the preseason will finish up on Sunday in Nashville.
