Rookie goalie wins debut as Hurricanes down Sharks

Brandon Bussi made 16 saves to pick up the win in his NHL debut and five different Carolina players scored goals as the Hurricanes kicked off a season-high six-game road trip with a 5-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night.

Sean Walker, William Carrier, Eric Robinson, Shayne Gostisbehere and Jackson Blake scored goals and Logan Stankoven had two assists for Carolina, which extended its win streak against the Sharks to eight games dating back to a 2-1 overtime loss on Nov. 22, 2021.

Bussi, a 27-year-old Western Michigan product who made 111 starts for the AHL Providence Bruins, was claimed off waivers from Florida on Oct. 5 and moved into a backup role behind Frederik Andersen after Pyotr Kochetkov sustained a lower-body injury in practice last week.

William Eklund scored for San Jose, which remained winless (0-1-2) in three games. Alex Nedeljkovic finished with 38 saves.

Following a scoreless opening period, Carolina took a 1-0 lead on a delayed penalty at the 1:24 mark of the second period. Walker blasted a one-timer from inside the blue line through traffic and past Nedeljkovic's glove side.

San Jose tied it a little over three minutes later on Eklund's first goal, a wrist shot from the edge of the left circle that went through Bussi's pads.

The Hurricanes regained the lead at 14:14 of the second. Carrier, driving the net, poked in a rebound in the crease of a Alexander Nikishin shot.

Carolina extended the lead to 3-1 near the end of the period when Robinson, cutting to the net, put a backhand shot in past Nedeljkovic's glove side for his second goal. The score came right after Bussi stopped Adam Gaudette's point-blank wrist shot.

Gostisbehere made it 4-1 early in the third period when he completed a tic-tac-toe sequence with Stankoven and Taylor Hall with a wrist shot blocker side.

Blake extended the lead to 5-1 midway through the third period with Carolina's fourth consecutive goal, blasting a slap shot from above the left circle that caromed in off the left post past Nedeljkovic's blocker side.