"Our Captain is Awesome": 2025-26 Postseason Round 4, Game 4: Carolina Hurricanes at Vegas Golden Knights

After days of anticipation, the final reveal for the Carolina Hurricanes' starting goalie in Game 4 still left us with a little bit of a bombshell. As many had been clamoring for, Brandon Bussi made his first career postseason start tonight, with the Canes in desperate need of a win to even the series before returning to Raleigh. However, while Bussi was the starter, Frederik Andersen wasn't dressed. Instead, Pyotr Kochetkov served as the backup. While the team listed Andersen as a scratch, it's hard to believe that he'd completely disappear from the lineup without cause. I think the hit he took to the head from Ivan Barbashev was worse than they'd initially anticipated. Nevertheless, the Canes had to soldier on, trying to draw even against a tough Vegas squad.

Scoring Summary

1st Period

CAR (1:06)- Logan Stankoven (11) (Jalen Chatfield (7) & Jackson Blake (12))

CAR (3:28)- Jackson Blake (6) (Taylor Hall (12) & Nikolaj Ehlers (6))

VGK (7:32)- Mark Stone (7) (Shea Theodore (11) & Brayden McNabb (9))

CAR (12:48-PP)- Jordan Staal (6) (Shayne Gostisbehere (7) & Sebastian Aho (7))

2nd Period

VGK (4:22)- William Karlsson (3) (Rasmus Andersson (6) & Mitch Marner (19))

VGK (17:08)- Brett Howden (14) (Colton Sissons (6) & William Karlsson (6))

3rd Period

CAR (6:32)- Jordan Staal (7) (Nikolaj Ehlers (7))

CAR (19:05-EN)- Nikolaj Ehlers (7) (unassisted)

My Thoughts

There's no such thing as an easy game in this Stanley Cup Final, which makes it all the more remarkable that this would be considered the "boring" game of the series thus far. Of course, this game had another blown multi-goal lead, as the Carolina Hurricanes struggled to find a goal during the second period to put Vegas away. Instead, the Golden Knights worked back into the game with two goals, sending us to the third period tied. The Canes have yet to lead a game in this series through 40 minutes. I appreciate that they decided to regain the lead early in the third period, though it was still tense until the very end. The Canes probably deserved to win this game more than Vegas, but the Golden Knights felt like the more dangerous team over the final two periods. None of that matters now. The Canes won, and that's what matters.

Based on the Canes' start, there was a small part of me that hoped this game wouldn't be close. I was wrong, but it was still a nice opening for the group. It came courtesy of the Stankoven line. Each of the four goals tonight materialized because of a bad play by Vegas. On Logan Stankoven's game-opening tally, Carter Hart failed to get his stick on a puck off the boards. It popped right out to Stankoven to finish on his backhand. Jackson Blake's goal came right after a failed power play, but they kept the puck in the zone because Brayden McNabb was soft on his clearing attempt. Taylor Hall found Blake, and it was an easy shot for him. After Vegas scored to cut the lead in half, they took a too-many-men penalty, sending seven skaters onto the ice. Jordan Staal cleaned up a loose puck in front of the net on the ensuing chances, restoring the multi-goal lead. Vegas tied it, but Staal scored the go-ahead goal early in the third on a play that began with Shea Theodore turning the puck over. Seth Jarvis was stopped, but he fought for the puck, Nikolaj Ehlers got it to Staal, and he scored on his backhand as he fell to the ice. Ehlers had three points, Staal potted a pair, and Blake had two points. 

While we'd been making such a big deal about who would be in the net for the Hurricanes, it turns out that the decision wasn't very hard for the coaching staff. It was always going to be Brandon Bussi, and I think it's a little cruel that they strung us on for this long. While by no means his sharpest outing of the season, it's hard to look at this performance and not be amazed by the ice that runs through Bussi's veins. He made his first postseason start in the Stanley Cup Final in a game that the Hurricanes absolutely needed to win, and he led them to victory. He stopped 17 of the 20 shots he faced, with only Brett Howden's tying goal in the second period feeling like a rough goal against. Bussi was clean with the puck, stopped all nine shots he faced in the third, and picked up his first postseason win. There seems to be a question about who should be in the net for Game 5. I see no reason not to keep rolling with Bussi right now.

I've felt this entire time that a split in Vegas would be a positive outcome for the Canes after the first two in Raleigh were split. They easily could've come out of this with a 3-1 lead if a bounce had gone their way on Saturday night. Instead, the series returns to Raleigh tied at two. The Stanley Cup Final is now a best-of-three fight to the finish, and the Canes have home ice advantage once again. What they need to do now is find a way to win back-to-back games and put Vegas on the ropes for once. They need to come out on Thursday night, feed off the energy from the home crowd, and find a way to break Vegas. That's much easier said than done, especially with how tight this series has been. They've put themselves in a good spot to do something big. They must find a way to capitalize on it.

First Star of the Game: Jordan Staal

Shoutout to Nikolaj Ehlers for his three-point game, but there is no one else on the planet that I was considering for this honor. The captain was the Canes' best player tonight, and he earned every bounce that he got. Staal was in the right place to pot a loose puck on the power play in the third period, extending his goal streak to four straight games. Then, Staal added a little flair to the go-ahead goal, deciding that staying on his skates was too easy. Along with his two goals, Staal won 75% of his draws.

Next Up: We knew all along that the series was coming back to Raleigh. We just didn't know whether we needed to pack for a return trip to Vegas this weekend. The Canes answered that question tonight. Game 5 will be at the Lenovo Center on Thursday night. Regardless of who wins, the Stanley Cup will be on site in Vegas on Sunday night. It's just a matter of which team will be playing for the honor ot hoisting the Cup, and which will be fighting to send the game back to Raleigh next Wednesday night.