The Carolina Hurricanes got the celebration they’d earned, then had to settle in and grind through the reality of opening night.
Before the puck ever dropped on the 2026-27 season, the Lenovo Center was set for a party. The players were introduced, captain Jordan Staal carried the Stanley Cup to center ice, and the franchise got its first chance to skate a lap at home with the trophy after winning it in Las Vegas. Then came the moment the night had been building toward for weeks: the 2026 Stanley Cup banner went up to the rafters.
After that, the games started counting again.
For the Hurricanes, the first big storyline was in net, where Brandon Bussi got the nod with Frederik Andersen gone to Edmonton in the offseason. Carolina had already said back in late June that it was comfortable with Bussi and Pyotr Kochetkov as the tandem if that’s how the season opened, and Bussi handled the spotlight well in his first home opener as the starter.
He was sharp from the jump. Florida came at him early, and Bussi answered with a string of big stops, including a huge save on Aleksander Barkov that looked like pure robbery. Over 64 minutes of action, he gave the Hurricanes a chance to survive a game that felt tight from the start and stayed that way all the way into overtime.
Bussi finished with 19 saves on 20 shots, good for a .950 save percentage and third-star honors. Carolina didn’t get enough offense to reward him, but he was the biggest reason the night reached overtime in the first place.
The penalty kill also did its part to keep the game alive. The Hurricanes were sent to the box seven times and even spent time down 5-on-3, but they killed every one of those chances off.
That’s a clean 7-for-7 on a night when the whistles kept coming. Jaccob Slavin helped steady that unit, and Charles Alexis Legault also drew notice while K’Andre Miller served the first penalty of the game.
Special teams were a mixed bag overall, though. Carolina’s power play went 0-for-6, so while the penalty kill held up, the man advantage never delivered. Still, surviving all those shorthanded situations mattered, especially in a game that had so many stops and starts.
The final blow came late in overtime. Carolina had the puck for most of the extra session, but Florida needed only one shot to end it. Gustav Forsling scored with 4.6 seconds left from the blue line, and the Hurricanes walked away with one point instead of two.
Even with the loss, the night carried plenty of meaning. Carolina celebrated its championship one more time, raised a banner in front of 19,250 fans, and set a new mark for the largest regular-season crowd in Lenovo Center history. The rust was there, but so was a point, and that gives the Hurricanes something to build on.
They’ll have two days off before facing the Washington Capitals on Friday, Oct. 2, in the first half of a back-to-back. The next question is simple: who gets the start in goal, and can the Hurricanes pick up their first win of the season?
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Nikishins situation has become more than just a routine negotiation, because it sits at the intersection of Carolinas roster plans and the wider trade market. With teams around the NHL weighing moves involving players such as Henri Jokiharju, Patrik Laine, Vince Dunn and Ryan OReilly, the Hurricanes are watching the board while their own key piece is still unsigned, and that uncertainty could end up affecting whether bigger opportunities stay within reach. [Read more 🡒]