The Carolina Hurricanes took on the Florida Panthers to open the 2026-27 NHL season. They raised their Stanley Cup banner before the game, celebrating the team's first championship in 20 years. Unfortunately, Brandon Bussi and his teammates could not pick up the win.
Bussi had a big-time performance in goal. He wasn't tested too often in this contest, facing just 20 shots. He was up to the task for the most part, making 19 saves. However, the one goal he allowed came in overtime.
After the game, the Hurricanes goalie took full responsibility for allowing the deciding goal.
Article Continues Below“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,” Bussi said, via team reporters Peter Dewar and Walt Ruff.
Carolina and Florida played an incredibly intense game on Tuesday night. They didn't allow many scoring opportunities. And they combined for 36 penalty minutes. These teams certainly set the tone in the curtain raiser of the 2026-27 NHL season.
The Hurricanes played a good game of hockey, but the Panthers claimed victory. Carolina has 83 more contests ahead of them in their Stanley Cup defense. They will need to put this one behind them as best they can. The Hurricanes are in action again on Friday against Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals.