The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the San Jose Sharks 43-17, largely controlling the final two periods as they cruised to a 5-1 victory and remained undefeated on the season.
Hurricanes goalie Brandon Bussi, a 27-year-old rookie, made his NHL debut and made 16 saves, including several on acrobatic plays, to earn the victory.
Game To summarize
The Sharks came out aggressively on their first shift, repeatedly attacking the net and drawing a penalty when K’Andre Miller Macklin beat Celebrini with a cut. However, the Hurricanes killed the penalty efficiently, never allowing San Jose to get into the rhythm of the power play. A long back and forth followed, with Carolina getting slightly better chances.
However, the Sharks responded with some of their best looks of that 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 he did score a penalty, and Will Smith almost 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, who suffered a boarding penalty. On the power play, Tyler Toffoli had a great opportunity near the net, but his shot just grazed Bussi’s stick and went wide. Almost immediately afterwards, the Hurricanes had a brief breakaway opportunity, leading to a Sharks penalty and a power play of their own. Although they had a few good chances in the remaining minutes, the first period ended scoreless.
After the first twenty minutes yielded no goals, Carolina needed less than 90 seconds to open the scoring in the second period. After a delayed penalty, Sebastian Aho fought off multiple control attempts from his former teammate Dmitry Orlov before delivering 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 opportunities 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 defeated Bussi through the five holes to tie the match. Unfortunately for San Jose, an Adam Gaudette hook penalty just over a minute later destroyed any chance the Sharks might have had to build on that goal. Although Carolina did not score on the ensuing power play, they dominated for most of the remainder of the period and forced the Sharks to play on their heels, maintaining possession of the puck in their offensive zone. When San Jose got the puck, they had no choice but to play aggressively on offense, which helped create two Hurricanes breakaway goals.
On the first inning, Jordan Martinook worked the boards and made a good centering pass to Alexander Nikishin near the net. He didn’t score, but Carrier followed and knocked the ball in to give Carolina the lead. The goal was the sixth of his career against the Sharks, mainly as a member of the Vegas Golden Knights.
Near the end of the period, Bussi made a great save on Gaudette, and when Mike Reilly tracked down the puck, Eric Robinson slid behind the Sharks defense. Reilly made a perfect pass and Robinson drove straight into the offensive zone to score and increase Carolina’s lead to 3-1.
The Hurricanes controlled the third period even more than the second, preventing the Sharks from registering a single shot on target for the entire twenty minutes. However, they only needed the first eight minutes to effectively put the game away. During 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 the Anaheim Ducks on the road on Thursday (October 16). The Sharks’ next game is on Friday (October 17), also on the road, against the Utah Mammoth.
Other comments
- 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 tonight as a member of the Hurricanes.
- Tonight was the first time the Sharks had trailed all season, despite not having won any games yet.
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