The Carolina Hurricanes jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead and never looked back as they defeated the New York Islanders, 6-2 on Thursday night at the Lenovo Center.
The Canes had six different goal scorers and 11 players with points. Even goalie Brandon Bussi earned an assist, his first career NHL point.
Speaking of Bussi, he played very well again and improved his record to 3-1 in the four games he has played for Carolina. He made 26 saves on 28 shots and now has a save percentage of .916 and a GAA of 2.25.
The Canes would be ill advised to put him on the waiver wire when Kochetkov is ready to return to action. More discussion about this later.
Bradly Nadeau started things off with a blast right from his wheelhouse just 2:33 into the game. It was his first career NHL goal.
Mike Reilly then scored a wrap-around off his own rebound during a penalty kill. The defenseman enjoyed his success against his former team and is happy to be given an opportunity at Carolina.
Jordan Martinook made it 3-0 when he stuffed in a rebound.
The home team cooled off a bit while the visitors got to their game and Carolina would not score again until the third period.
Just a minute and change into the third, Jackson Blake took a beautiful pass from Taylor Hall to make the score, 4-1.
Midway through the third, the Islanders made it 4-2 but Andrei Svechnikov answered that with a slick move and shot just 21 seconds later.
The move was vintage Svechnikov and hopefully a sign of much more to come.
Nikolai Ehlers then fed Logan Stankoven to close out the scoring.
Alexander Nikishin played well and was tied for a team high +3, and also led the team with four hits.
The Hurricanes only won 39% of their faceoffs and were outhit, 30-19. The did out shoot the Islanders 33-28.
Finally, Seth Jarvis left the game and was helped off the ice. Brind’Amour said after the game that “it did not look good”. He will be tested on Friday.
The team will practice on Friday before flying to Boston for an afternoon game against the Bruins on Saturday.
Game Summary – https://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20252026/GS020171.HTM
Event Summary – https://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20252026/ES020171.HTM
