"Leave it in 2025": 2025-26 Regular Season, Game 39: Carolina Hurricanes at Pittsburgh Penguins

With an overtime win over the Rangers last night, the Carolina Hurricanes moved past 50 points, becoming the first Eastern Conference team to do so. Tonight, they aimed for the back-to-back sweep to close 2025, visiting Sidney Crosby and the Penguins for the first time. Without any changes to the lineup, Frederik Andersen sought his first win in almost two months, especially with the news that Pyotr Kochetkov was likely done for the season. The team needs him to get it together because they've always been best when they can rely on both goalies to get them out of a jam. Brandon Bussi has done his part. It's time for Andersen to do the same.

Scoring Summary
1st Period
PIT (3:46)- Sidney Crosby (21) (Rickard Rakell (9) & Bryan Rust (18))
PIT (16:07)- Justin Brazeau (12) (Brett Kulak (3))
PIT (17:12)- Anthony Mantha (13) (Bryan Rust (19) & Erik Karlsson (24))
2nd Period
PIT (15:08)- Tommy Novak (7) (Parker Wotherspoon (10) & Erik Karlsson (25))
PIT (18:08)- Anthony Mantha (14) (Justin Brazeau (8) & Tommy Novak (13))
CAR (18:25)- Mark Jankowski (2) (Joel Nystrom (7) & Mike Reilly (5))
3rd Period
None

My Thoughts
This one is going to be short and sweet because the Carolina Hurricanes gave me absolutely nothing good to talk about. What the hell was that? Just 24 hours after an exhilerating win over the New York Rangers, the Canes laid one of the worst eggs of the season. The only saving grace is that it wasn't a true goose egg because Mark Jankowski scored to cut the deficit to four goals late in the second period. Joel Nystrom made a great pass to set up the chance. Too bad it was 17 seconds after Pittsburgh made it 5-0. The Canes didn't get a chance to opperate on the power play tonight, which is a bummer after their two-goal effort last night. It was a very bad game from the Hurricanes, and it deserves to be treated as such. It's a good thing we can leave it in 2025.

The only thing anyone wants to talk about is Frederik Andersen. Did he play well tonight? Not really. Is there much he could've done about anything that happened? Probably, but the guys in front of him were little to no help. The goal that changed the game's complexion was Brazeau's goal to make it 2-0 late in the first. The Canes appeared to be in decent shape. They hadn't found their offensive game to that point, but they hadn't fallen out of it yet, either. That goal goes in, and it changes everything. It was another stoppable one, too. The Penguins scored on the power play to make it 3-0, and the game felt like it was over. There was no coming back from it. It all got worse from there. I think Andersen played well in the third period without there being any stakes in how the final 20 minutes played out. With the game already over, he put in his best work of the night, preventing the game from really getting out of hand in an ugly way. Honestly, I don't know where the Hurricanes go from here. To acquire a goalie would be costly, but it might be what they need to do.

Next Up: The Canes open 2026 on home ice, welcoming the Montreal Canadiens for their first meeting of the season. The clock gets turned back on Saturday when the Canes open a back-to-back by throwing on their throwback Whalers gear once again to battle the Colorado Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques in Raleigh. They'll turn around and finish the week with another game on Sunday night, marking five games in seven days when they visit the Devils in New Jersey.

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