Hurricanes Stars Credited for Team's Hot Streak

The Carolina Hurricanes have spent years building one of the league’s strongest cultures. Accountability, structure and patience have defined their rise from a fun possession team to a true contender. They’ve had regular-season success. They’ve had playoff success. What they haven’t had is the final breakthrough.

That’s why this season feels different. Pivotal. Carolina has been close enough for long enough that anything short of a deep run would feel like another missed opportunity.

Last year ended with heartbreak again, a Conference Final loss to Florida. The season itself was remembered less for the hockey and more for the business: acquiring Mikko Rantanen, then flipping him to Dallas after a brief 13-game stop.

The return they got was massive: Logan Stankoven, a 2026 first-round pick (top-10 protected, converting to an unprotected 2027 first if needed), a 2026 third, a 2027 third, and a 2028 first. It was bold, calculated, and very Hurricanes. This season, the results have followed.

Bussi Changes the Feel of the Game

Carolina sits atop both the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference. Somehow, they’re doing it while owning one of the league’s worst power plays and still ranking among the NHL’s higher-scoring teams. For once, they aren’t leading the league in shots on goal — second only to the first place Colorado Avalanche — but they do allow the fewest shots per game.

One of the biggest differences has come in net. Rookie Brandon Bussi’s arrival has given Carolina an entirely new gear. Like Jesper Wallstedt in Minnesota, Bussi doesn’t just make saves, he calms games. He just became the fastest goalie in NHL history to reach 10 wins, doing it in just 11 starts, and has now won nine straight.

The Hurricanes are rolling, riding a four-game winning streak that includes three straight shootout victories. Two of those came in a weekend back-to-back against Philadelphia. After the second win, Andrei Svechnikov was asked about his success in shootouts in a postgame media scrum. His shootout goal was the 12th of his career (video below), the most in franchise history.