Gustov Forsling ended it with 4.1 seconds left in overtime, and the Carolina Hurricanes opened the season with a 1-0 loss to Florida on Opening Night.
Before the puck dropped, the night belonged to the celebration. The Hurricanes got one final chance to salute the Stanley Cup, and they made it count in front of a packed building.
Seth Jarvis came out in uniform to a roar, then captain Jordan Staal skated in carrying the Cup. He took it around the arena to the crowd’s cheers, even rolling past the Florida Panthers, before setting it in the middle of the ice where the team had formed a circle.
From there, it turned into a full Storm Surge. The familiar beat kicked in, the fans joined the moment, and Staal lifted the Cup again as every player reached in for one last touch.
The trophy was placed back on the table, the 2026 banner was raised, and the team posed for photos. That was the sendoff for a title the home crowd never got to celebrate in person.
The game itself was the opposite of festive. With a shortened training camp and preseason in the rearview, both teams looked like they were still finding their rhythm.
The first period was mostly a back-and-forth skate, and Florida’s 6-3 edge in shots came largely from its two power plays. Carolina killed both, including one with Logan Stankoven filling in for Seth Jarvis.
Brandon Bussi and Jacob Markstrom both came up with key saves, and the period closed with Nic Deslauriers and Bokondji Imama trading holds and circles more than real punches.
Things got messier in the second. Both teams spent time on the 5-on-3, and the penalties piled up fast, with nine combined in the period.
The penalty kills kept winning the night. Florida had the better looks at times, but Bussi turned away several chances.
Carolina finally generated some real pressure on its last power play of the frame, but it still couldn’t break through. The period ended with Sean Walker heading to the box after a scrum.
Carolina looked more like itself in the third, and its second power-play unit helped spark its best stretch of the night. The teams kept trading penalties and chances, but the Hurricanes killed off a late Florida power play and then watched the Panthers slow the game down to make sure each side left with at least a point.
Overtime belonged mostly to Carolina, though the execution never fully cleaned up. The Hurricanes controlled play for long stretches, but the puck movement was shaky enough that they ended up sending more pucks at their own goalie than at Markstrom. Then came the costly sequence: K’Andre Miller made a pass across to Andrei Svechnikov near the goal, Florida turned it into a rush the other way, and Forsling fired a shot from just over the blue line that beat Bussi for the winner.
Afterward, Bussi put the goal on himself, saying it was one he should have had. Even so, he made enough big stops to get Carolina to overtime.
Rod Brind’Amour didn’t sound overly rattled, saying Bussi would want the shot back but also noting that he was the reason the game reached overtime in the first place. His bigger concern was the choppy pace and the constant whistles, which kept the game from settling into any kind of rhythm.
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