The Carolina Hurricanes outshot the San Jose Sharks 43-17 and largely controlled the final two periods as they cruised to a 5-1 win and remained unbeaten on the season.
Hurricanes goaltender Brandon Bussi, a 27-year-old rookie, made his NHL debut and made 16 saves, including several on acrobatic plays, to earn the win.
Game Recap
The Sharks came out aggressively on their first shift, repeatedly attacking the net and drawing a penalty when K’Andre Miller slashed Macklin Celebrini. However, the Hurricanes efficiently killed the penalty, never letting San Jose settle into a rhythm on the power play. A long back-and-forth stretch followed, with Carolina getting slightly better chances.
However, the Sharks responded with some of their best looks of the period. Jeff Skinner played great defense along the blue line before taking control of the puck and heading to the net. He didn’t score as Bussi made a good save, but did draw a penalty, and Will Smith nearly scored on the ensuing power play.
San Jose got another power play a few minutes later, thanks to a big hit by William Carrier on Mario Ferraro that went as a boarding penalty. During the power play, Tyler Toffoli found a great opportunity near the net, but his shot just barely grazed Bussi’s stick and went wide. Almost immediately after, the Hurricanes got a shorthanded breakaway chance, leading to a Sharks penalty and a power play of their own. Although they got a couple of good chances over the remaining few minutes, the first period ended scoreless.
After the first 20 minutes produced no goals, Carolina needed less than 90 seconds to open the scoring in the second period. On a delayed penalty, Sebastian Aho fought off multiple checking attempts from his former teammate Dmitry Orlov before dropping off a pass to Sean Walker, who unleashed a one-timer that flew past moving bodies and into the net. The Hurricanes continued their momentum by getting the next few scoring chances as well.
The Sharks responded a few minutes later, when Nick Leddy forced a turnover in the neutral zone and Toffoli made a good breakout pass to William Eklund. The Swedish forward beat Bussi through the five-hole to tie the game. Unfortunately for San Jose, an Adam Gaudette hooking penalty just over a minute later killed any chance the Sharks might have had to build on that goal. While Carolina didn’t score on the ensuing power play, they dominated most of the rest of the period and forced the Sharks to play on their heels, maintaining possession of the puck in their offensive zone. When San Jose did get the puck, they had no choice but to play aggressively on offense, which helped create two Hurricanes breakaway goals.
On the first, Jordan Martinook worked down the boards and made a good centering pass to Alexander Nikishin near the net. He didn’t score, but Carrier followed up to knock it in and give Carolina the lead. The goal was the sixth in his career against the Sharks, mostly as a member of the Vegas Golden Knights.
Towards the end of the period, Bussi made a great save on Gaudette, and as Mike Reilly tracked down the puck, Eric Robinson slipped behind the Sharks’ defense. Reilly made a perfect pass, and Robinson cruised right into the offensive zone to score and increase Carolina’s advantage to 3-1.
The Hurricanes controlled the third period even more than they did the second, preventing the Sharks from registering a single shot on goal for the entire 20 minutes. However, they only needed the first eight minutes to effectively put the game away. In that time, they used good puck movement to score two goals, one from Shayne Gostisbehere and one from Jackson Blake. The Sharks never seriously threatened to make a comeback.
Carolina improves to 3-0-0 while San Jose drops to 0-1-2. The Hurricanes next play on Thursday (Oct. 16) on the road against the Anaheim Ducks. The Sharks’ next game is on Friday (Oct. 17), also on the road, against the Utah Mammoth.
Other Notes
- Bussi is the second-oldest goaltender in NHL history to make his debut against the Sharks. The oldest, Ray LeBlanc — who was about a month older than Bussi is now — also defeated the Sharks 5-1, as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks in 1992.
- Jordan Staal played his 900th game as a member of the Hurricanes tonight.
- Tonight was the first time the Sharks have trailed all season despite not winning any games yet.
