Brandon Bussi didn’t need long to settle the goaltending chatter in Raleigh.
With Frederik Andersen gone to the Edmonton Oilers and questions hanging over Carolina’s crease all summer, opening night offered the first real look at how the Hurricanes would handle life with Brandon Bussi and Pyotr Kochetkov. General manager Eric Tulsky said the club felt “comfortable” with the tandem, but some outside the room still wondered if that was enough.
One game in, Bussi made a strong case that he belongs in the No. 1A spot.
The Hurricanes didn’t get the result they wanted in their season opener, but Bussi’s performance was a clear bright spot. He stopped 19 of 20 shots, finished with a .950 save percentage and a 0.92 goals-against average, and both numbers were already sitting inside the NHL’s top five after the first game. Over 64 minutes, he looked sharp, steady and very much like the goalie Carolina expected.
That shouldn’t have come as a total surprise. Bussi closed the 2025-26 season with a 31-6-2 record, a 2.47 GAA, a .895 save percentage and two shutouts.
Then he carried that form into the playoffs, going 3-1-0 with a 1.60 GAA, a .931 save percentage and one shutout in four games on the way to a Stanley Cup title. So the real question wasn’t whether he could play - it was whether he could keep it going.
So far, the answer is yes.
After the opener, Bussi didn’t hide from the one goal he wanted back.
“I felt pretty good tonight. It just stings right now a little bit.
I think we deserved a little better. It probably should’ve got to a shootout, but it didn’t.
We’ll take the point, and we’ll move forward… I felt pretty good, and I gave up a pretty bad goal. It might’ve hit our d-man or whatever, it took a pretty weird bounce.
But it was far enough out that I should’ve had it. For some reason I didn’t get a good visual on it.
There’s four seconds left. I’m just trying to get to a shootout.
By my standards, it’s a bad goal.”
Even with that moment late, Bussi helped keep Carolina alive deep into overtime and gave the Hurricanes a chance to open their title defense with more than just a point.
Now the spotlight shifts quickly to Friday, Oct. 2, when Carolina hosts the Washington Capitals to begin its October schedule. It’s an early Metropolitan Division test, and some around the league think the Capitals can win the division this season. During morning skate before that game, it appears Bussi is in line for his second start.
That lines up with the schedule, too. This is the first half of a back-to-back, with the Hurricanes heading to Philadelphia to face the Flyers on Saturday night, Oct.
- If Carolina is treating Bussi as its 1A, this is exactly the kind of matchup he should get - a big division opponent at home, with the team asking him to set the tone again.
The Hurricanes will also be looking for a better night from the skaters in front of him. The penalty kill was perfect against the Florida Panthers, going 7-for-7, but the power play went 0-for-6. One game into the season, Carolina would rather not find itself two games deep still waiting for its first man-advantage goal.
For now, though, the clearest takeaway is simple: Bussi looks ready for the job. Opening night didn’t go perfectly for the Hurricanes, but their goalie gave them everything they could ask for - and then some.
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