It felt like for the longest time that the remarkable start of Brandon Bussi was one that was increasingly impossible. While bringing a strong track record of sterling saves, since the Olympic Break he hasn’t looked nearly as stellar. What’s been more concerning is his weakness at handling the puck, and it would play a direct role in the Hurricanes losing to Calgary at the end of their pacific road trip.
The game got off to a quick start for Carolina, as Seth Jarvis would score just 44 seconds into
the contest. The Sebastian Aho, Jarvis, and Andrei Svechnikov started the game off and their fight produced a goal quickly. Calgary was trying to exit the zone but Aho and Svechnikov converged on the puck, forcing a turnover that ended up on the stick of Svechnikov. He feathered a great pass over to Jarvis who immediately put a shot on net past Dustin Wolf.
With how Calgary sold a lot of their players at the deadline and the quick start for the Hurricanes, you would have thought the rest of the period would have devolved quickly. However, despite each side getting a power play, neither side was able to get another goal. Carolina outshot Calgary nine to six, but a lot of those shots for Calgary came later in the period as the Canes seemed to relax a little and got a little sloppy with the puck.
That sloppiness carried over to start the second and it started in net. Brandon Bussi—who had a good first period—let his puck handling issues come back to bite him early as he mishandled a puck right after the face off. Calgary jumped on it, and Ryan Strome tied up the score at one just nineteen seconds into the period. Just three minutes later, Calgary kept the pressure on and basically out Carolina’d the Canes as Blake Coleman threw a shot in front of the net that Bussi was able to stop but it created a rebound that Joel Farabee was able to slap past Bussi.
Then for good measure, the Hurricanes decided to give Calgary a couple of tries on the Power Play, which they were able to cash in on as Morgan Frost took the face off win by the Flames and got the third one for the home squad. In a matter of seven minutes, the Flames had turned a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 lead and were able to hold it through the end of the period. The Flames outshot the Canes 13-7 in the period.
It’s possible that the schedule of four games in five nights on the road had caught up to the team, especially after having to empty the tank to deal with the league’s best duo in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisatl the night before. It’s also possible that the Canes were struggling with missing Shayne Gostisbehere, who sat out after getting injured the night before. During the pregame, though, coach Rod Brind’Amour seemed to say that it wasn’t serious enough to be out long term.
No matter the reason, the second period was one of the worst the Hurricanes played all season.
The third started just badly, as the puck handling issues were firmly in Bussi’s head. He moved outside his crease to try and push the puck out of zone, but instead he shot it directly to the stick of Joel Farabee. Farabee shot it back to Bussi, who made the stop but gave up a rebound directly to Blake Coleman who potted it to give Calgary a 4-1 lead just 2:24 into the period.
At that point it felt like things were done, but Brind’Amour switched up the lines to see what would happen and despite the bad start, the Canes responded. First, Aho was able to pinch down low and free up the puck onto the stick of Taylor Hall, Hall whipped a pass over to Sean Walker, and Walker was able to wrist it past Wolf to bring the Canes back to 4-2.
Just a few seconds later, Calgary was finally called for the off-the-puck action they had been doing all night, giving the Canes their second Power Play and they took advantage. With Alexander Nikishin taking over the defenseman spot for Shayne Gostisbehere, the Canes were able to enter the zone. Jarvis passed the puck over to Aho after making the entry, Aho immediately got it over to Nikishin who slapped it from near the blue line past Wolf to make it 4-3 just three minutes after the Flames had taken a three goal lead.
The pressure was on the Flames to right the ship, and they were able to hold on while the Canes just didn’t have the juice to be able get the last puck across the net. Joel Farabee made a great play in the defensive zone to fly out and get a breakaway chance against Bussi, which he was able to convert making the score 5-3. The Canes would pull Bussi and get that one back with just eleven seconds left thanks to Andrei Svechnikov recovering a rebound and pounding it home. Unfortunately there just wasn’t enough time left for the Canes to get one more, and they let Calgary celebrate their first win since the trade deadline selloff.
The loss makes Carolina 2-2 on the road trip, but they still end Saturday 10 points up on the Penguins for first place in the Metropolitan. Pittsburgh is set to face the Bruins Sunday before coming to Raleigh for the first of three meetings in the next month.
Aho finished with three points on the night, all assists, while Jarvis also had three points with the goal and two assists.
We’ll see if Bussi can snap out of this funk, as the Canes showed some trust in his ability by not making a move for a goaltender at the deadline. Carolina is back in action in Raleigh for the next two games starting on Tuesday.
