"I Think He Might Be Back": 2025-26 Regular Season, Game 10: Carolina Hurricanes vs. New York Islanders

It feels like just yesterday when the season began. Now, it's officially double digits. Time sure does fly. The Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Islanders each enter play on two-game slides, aiming to prevent it from becoming a streak on Thursday night. There is one other goal for the Canes tonight: don't lose another defenseman. They're back down to three regulars in the lineup after Shayne Gostisbehere left Tuesday's contest, his first game in over a week after leaving the road trip early. Three rookie defensemen in the lineup have become a regular occurrence already this season. The Islanders have a rookie defenseman of their own who is turning a lot of heads. Islanders' top pick Matthew Schaefer makes his inaugural venture to Raleigh tonight, bringing with him an impressive start to his rookie campaign. With October turning to November this weekend, the Canes needed a stout effort from the group to get back in the win column.

Scoring Summary

1st Period

CAR (2:33)- Bradly Nadeau (1) (unassisted)

CAR (5:21-SH)- Mike Reilly (1) (unassisted)

CAR (10:21)- Jordan Martinook (2) (Jordan Staal (1) & Andrei Svechnikov (1))

NYI (13:20-PP)- Matthew Schaefer (3) (Kyle Palmieri (4) & Jonathan Drouin (6))

2nd Period

None

3rd Period

CAR (1:51)- Jackson Blake (3) (Taylor Hall (4) & Brandon Bussi (1))

NYI (10:48)- Simon Holmstrom (3) (Tony DeAngelo (4))

CAR (10:59)- Andrei Svechnikov (2) (Alexander Nikishin (4) & Logan Stankoven (3))

CAR (19:49)- Logan Stankoven (4) (Nikolaj Ehlers (4))

My Thoughts

No one remembers what happens in the middle of the game. It's all about how you start and how you finish. On both counts, the Hurricanes were fantastic, opening the game with 10 near-perfect minutes. Bradly Nadeau started the fun, snapping home his first NHL goal after a brutal turnover by Maxim Tsyplakov. Then, Mike Reilly burnt his old team, taking advantage of another bad turnover. Simon Holmstrom threw the puck to no one on the power play. Reilly skated into it, fired, followed his shot, and wrapped it home. To conclude this segment, Andrei Svechnikov got a puck to the net that Jordan Martinook was on the spot to deposit after David Rittich got a good piece of the initial deflections. Sure, New York got one back at the end of the period, courtesy of a Matthew Schaefer goal on the power play, but the Canes' start had them in the right spot immediately.

We won't talk about the second period because it wasn't pretty. Instead, we'll skip right to the third. I'll call this Schaefer's "Welcome to the NHL" period, though I'm not sure if he's already had something like this in his young career. The Canes' fourth and fifth goals came at his expense. Taylor Hall dangled through him before dropping a pass for Jackson Blake, which he finished. Then, after New York got one back, Svechnikov sped right around him and lifted one past Rittich to immediately get the goal back. Logan Stankoven concluded the night's proceedings with a pretty 2-on-1 finish with Nikolaj Ehlers, sending the fans home happy with a 6-2 win. The Canes dominated for well over half of the game, and even during the parts they didn't dominate, they maintained a multi-goal lead.

I gushed over Svechnikov's performance on Tuesday night, even with the team falling to Vegas. He was ready to shoot everything, eventually getting his first goal of the season. After tonight, I feel far more confident in the assertion that he is, in fact, back. He was one of two players, along with Stankoven, with multiple points tonight, scoring his second goal in as many contests while picking up his first helper. Svechnikov did a little bit of everything. He had three more shots. He made an all-world pass to set up Seth Jarvis for a chance. He took a patented Svechnikov penalty. He also laid a big hit on Emil Heineman late in the second. I don't know about anyone else, but that sure feels like a good thing.

Lastly, we need to talk about Brandon Bussi's night. It certainly was an interesting one. Bussi did a little bit of everything. He recorded his first NHL penalty by throwing the puck over the glass. He also recorded his first NHL point, getting the secondary helper on Blake's goal early in the third. Most importantly, Bussi did an excellent job of stopping the puck, his primary objective. Bussi has put together four quality starts in a row, making him 100% in his NHL career in that regard. He stopped 26 shots tonight. Some were made to look harder than others, and his stick wasn't always cooperating with him. Regardless, it's nice to know that there is stability in the net, even when it's your third-stinger.

First Star of the Game: Andrei Svechnikov

Re-read the first three paragraphs to get the full understanding of how well Andrei Svechnikov played tonight. He was outstanding from horn to horn, finding ways to make an impact in all three periods tonight.

Next Up: The Canes are back on the road to start November. They start with a Saturday afternoon visit to Beantown before venturing to New York City on Tuesday. With two more road games out of the way, the Canes will finally enjoy some time at home, playing five of their next six games at the Lenovo Center.