Thirteen Carolina Hurricanes notched a point, Brandon Bussi made several key saves notching his first NHL win in his first NHL start, and the Penalty Kill was a perfect 5-5 despite missing Jaccob Slavin
as the Canes defeated the rebuilding San Jose Sharks 5-1.
Earlier in the day, coach Rod Brind’Amour confirmed that the defenseman didn’t make the trip out west and will miss an untold amount of time with an untold injury. In his place, the defensive pairings were shuffled slightly and offseason signing Mike Reilly drew in along side Jalen Chatfield as K’Andre Miller moved up to skate with Sean Walker. One other change was Mark Jankowski slid in for Jesperi Kotkaniemi, a healthy extra.
Not a lot happened in the first period in terms of goals scored, but it wasn’t for lack of chances. A sloppy period for the Canes led to three Sharks Power Plays, but they were unable to convert. Mostly it was due to the great goal work of Bussi, but there also was strong penalty kill work by the Canes even without Slavin. Walker and Miller would play almost half of the first on defense, showing how quickly the acquisition from the Rangers has acclimated to the Canes and earned Brind’Amour’s trust.
Despite the three Power Plays for the Sharks, the Canes still led in shots after the first 14-8, however as Cory Lavalette pointed out on Bluesky after the first, there wasn’t a lot of organization in those shots. It was likely a huge reason that Carolina wasn’t able to dent former Cane Alex Nedeljkovic. Carolina did get an abridged Power Play near the end of the first when Sebastian Aho was slashed on a breakaway, but it came up empty.
The second period was where the dam burst open for the Canes. The play on the ice was a lot more coherent as the new entries to the lineup started to feel comfortable with each other, and Carolina only had to kill one penalty—a hook on Blake.
Carolina scored first when Walker took a great feed from Aho, who had managed to draw a penalty against his former teammate Dmitri Orlov. The referee’s hand was barely up, though, when Aho was able to pass it to the open Walker and Walker nailed a one-timer past Nedeljkovic. It was a fitting reward for Walker for the strong work he did in the first.
Bussi had been stout up to that point, and even came up with a couple of ridiculous saves. He couldn’t stay perfect, though, as William Eklund was able to take advantage of a rough Aho turnover and get it past Bussi to tie up the score. Bussi recovered for the rest of the period, however, and the Canes were able to get the lead ten minutes later thanks to some outstanding work by Alexander Nikishin driving the net. William Carrier started the play along the boards and was able to get the puck to Jordan Martinook. Martinook drew all of the defensive attention, leaving Nikishin wide open for a pass. His shot went off the post but Carrier followed behind to slam it back in, giving the Canes a 2-1 lead.
A few minutes later Bussi once again made an outstanding save, and despite how new he was to the team saw the play driving up toward the other end and was able to get the puck over to Mike Reilly in the corner. Reilly whipped a pass 3/4 across the length of the ice to a streaking Eric Robinson. Robinson went in and beat Nedeljkovic to give the Canes a 3-1 lead headed into the second intermission.
To say the Canes dominated the second is putting it lightly. Not only winning on the scoreboard 3-1, they outshot the Sharks 19-9.
The game effectively ended early in the third period, when Jackson Blake grabbed the puck in the Sharks’ offensive zone and absorbed a hit as he got a pass out to Taylor Hall. Hall led a three-on-two with Logan Stankoven and Shayne Gostisbehere, and the trio completed a perfect series of passes that led to a Gostisbehere goal.
Blake would then be rewarded for going to the wall a little later in the period by taking a feed from Jalen Chatfield and blasting it by Nedeljkovic to give the Canes a 5-1 lead. Chatfield took the feed from Stankoven, and overall the offense seemed to ignite once Rod Brind’Amour made a swap on the wings by putting Hall alongside Stankoven and Blake, while Andrei Svechnikov was moved over with Robinson and Mark Jankowski.
The other highlight of the period was Alexander Nikishin announcing his presence to the league. Sam Dickinson went in and sent Gostisbehere to the ice with a trip. The referees were going to call a penalty, but before the whistle blew Nikishin laid Dickinson out with a boom that was heard throughout the arena. Dickinson responded to the point he and Nikishin were called for matching minors, but it was a sign that while a rookie in name, Nikishin is not going to be pushed around.
San Jose failed to record a shot on goal in the third period despite having another Power Play, and the rookie goalie Bussi was rewarded for his stellar work by being able to take basically the second half of the game off.
The Canes now continue the road trip in California, heading south to face off against Anaheim Thursday and then the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.
