For the final time this season, the Carolina Hurricanes dropped the puck in the state of California, concluding the first half of their trip on Saturday night against the Los Angeles Kings. The Canes entered the night with wins in both San Jose and Anaheim, coming off a 4-1 victory over the Ducks on Thursday after two goals from Seth Jarvis and Alexander Nikishin’s first in the NHL.

The Canes turned the net back over to Brandon Bussi for the second time in three games. He was dynamite in his NHL debut on Tuesday, stopping 16 shots in the Canes’ victory over the Sharks. Jesperi Kotkaniemi re-entered the lineup, centering the fourth line after two games in the press box. Without Anze Kopitar and Darcy Kuemper, the Kings turned to Anton Forsberg in the crease.

In keeping with the “milestones” theme of the trip, the captain wasted little time making some magic. Just 12 seconds into the game, Jordan Staal was the beneficiary of a brilliant William Carrier pass, potting the 300th goal of his NHL career. He wasn’t done there. Less than four minutes in, he added another by leaking a shot through Forsberg, doubling the Canes’ advantage very early.

12 SECONDS IN

CAREER GOAL 300 pic.twitter.com/Zv11msTO9t

— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) October 19, 2025

The second period started with the Canes extending the lead. K’Andre Miller made a great defensive play to deny a pass, springing Jesperi Kotkaniemi for a breakaway. Kotkaniemi made no mistake, finishing on his backhand. The Kings dominated the remainder of the period. Trevor Moore had a quick response, and Andrei Kuzmenko scored on the power play to shrink the lead to one after 40.

It felt like a matter of time before the Kings would knot the game. It came on a 2-on-2 midway through the period. Kevin Fiala beat Bussi with to his blocker-side to tie it. The Canes built momentum late in the third, but Saturday night needed a little more time. In overtime, Seth Jarvis did it again, scoring 1:45 into the extra session to complete a perfect California swing with a 4-3 victory.

The Hurricanes keep reaching milestones and making history

The path to win this game was a rollercoaster, and the Canes made it much more difficult than they needed to. The night began with the captain almost immediately potting his 300th goal, scoring 12 seconds into the contest. With this goal, Jordan Staal and his older brother, Eric, became the fourth pair of brothers in NHL history to score 300 goals each.

After squandering a 3-0 lead, Seth Jarvis played the hero in overtime, setting an NHL record in the process. Jarvis became the first player in NHL history to record four game-winning goals in his team’s first five games, doing so in each of the Canes’ five wins other than San Jose. He also moves into the Top 10 in franchise history in overtime goals with the fourth of his career.

Brandon Bussi shines in his second game

He finished the night with a sub-.900 save percentage, but that’s not an indictment on how Brandon Bussi played in his second NHL game. He was phenomenal against a higher-caliber opponent than the team he faced on Tuesday. His night was littered with game-saving stops, including two pads saves against Phillip Danault and mastery with his glove on Alex Laferriere.

The game-tying goal was a tough one, which he admitted during his post-game interview, and he wasn’t put in a great spot when Alexander Nikishin was stripped by Trevor Moore. Thankfully, Moore missed the net on his breakaway because of how well Bussi challenged him. There were plenty of style points to his performance, keeping his record perfect in his young NHL career.

Additional Thoughts

Fans will scream to the ends of the earth about the Canes’ power play not converting on a 5-on-3 late in the second period that carried into the start of the third. The team generated very little on this chance up by just one. While they’ve scored on this trip, it was a perfect chance for them to pull away early in the third. Instead, they took the tougher path and won it in overtime.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi deserves some praise for his performance after spending the last two games in the press box. He had a very good night, scoring a beautiful breakaway goal and winning over 60 percent of his draws. While his group was on the ice for the tying goal, I hardly put it on him after winning the draw that led to the Fiala marker.

The Canes were dealt another blow on the injury front with Shayne Gostisbehere exiting the game in the first, courtesy of a lower-body concern. Rod Brind’Amour said after the game that he “tweaked something,” which is about as much as we’re going to get right now. It’s obviously not ideal with Jaccob Slavin already out. It could mean we see Charles Alexis Legault make his debut on Monday.

In his absence and with only five defensemen, Sean Walker (26:03) and K’Andre Miller (27:36) were called into action a lot in Los Angeles. Miller was all over the place, making massive plays on defense to create offense. He finished his night with a pair of helpers, including the secondary assist on the overtime goal.

Up Next: With half of the road trip behind them, the Carolina Hurricanes will start making their way back east, starting in Las Vegas on Monday night. They’ll get an extra day in between games before facing off with the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday. The trip concludes with a homecoming game for Logan Stankoven as he visits Dallas for the first time since the trade on Saturday.