3 Takeaways From Hurricanes’ 5-2 Loss to Capitals

After a heartbreaking loss to the Florida Panthers on Sept. 29, the Carolina Hurricanes hosted the Washington Capitals in the first Metropolitan Division showdown of the 2026-27 season. With the first-night jitters out of the way, the hope was the Hurricanes would come out strong against divisional rivals. Unfortunately, that was not the case, as they dropped game two of the season 5-2.

1. Disjointed First Period Sinks Hurricanes

While the first six minutes looked pretty even, things got out of hand quickly. A rare Brandon Bussi mishap behind the net, with him not moving the puck quickly enough and not judging the speed of PL Dubois, he lost the puck, which led to a semi-wide-open net for Alex Tuch. The goal made it 1-0 Capitals, and not even 10 minutes later, it was 3-0 in a blink.

Bussi will be the first to tell you he wishes he had some of those goals back, two at the least, in this one. While it wasn’t the best game for him, there is still belief that he is the 1A goalie for the Hurricanes this season. That said, not all of the goals were on him.

According to Eric Robinson in a first intermission interview on the Hurricanes Hockey Network, there were some soft plays all over the ice. He was not wrong, as the Hurricanes looked too loose in their own zone and had multiple defensive breakdowns in the first period. Furthermore, they gave up too many odd-man rushes, leaving Bussi to dry. Overall, it was a stretch of less than 15 minutes of sloppy hockey for the Hurricanes to put themselves in a hole after 20 minutes of play.

2. Aho & Stankoven Break Goalless Drought

After what felt like an eternity, the Hurricanes finally scored their first goal of the 2026-27 season. It came at 16:50 of the first period, on the power play, when Sebastian Aho was able to notch the first goal of the season in Raleigh. It took over four periods plus 4:55 of overtime hockey from Tuesday night before the Hurricanes were able to score a goal.

Thankfully, they got the first one out of the way; however, they were still down 4-1. Then another defensive breakdown saw the Capitals take a 5-1 lead just eight seconds after the Aho goal. By the time Logan Stankoven scored his first of the season, it was 10:50 into the third period, and the Hurricanes were down 5-2. Credit to Stankoven, it was a nice deflection off an initial K’Andre Miller shot that got past Logan Thompson.

All in all, at least they got two goals in the game, breaking what could have been a longer goalless run to begin the 2026-27 season. In the end, it was another tough loss for the defending Stanley Cup champions, who are now 0-1-1 after two games. Thankfully for them, there are still 82 games left in the season.

3. Better Quality Overall

Despite the Hurricanes putting up 33 shots in the game, doubling the 15 they had in the season opener, it wasn’t good-quality shot selection. The Capitals managed to block 28 shots in the game, compared to the Hurricanes’ nine. The Hurricanes did somewhat challenge Thompson in the net but also made it easy for him as well most of the time.

The Hurricanes only managed six shots in the third period, after having 11 in the first period and 16 in the second. It’s tough to come back in a game four goals down when only having six shots. It’s only the second game of the season, but the Hurricanes look lethargic, disjointed, and not playing to their capabilities that everyone is used to.

If they want to claim their first win on Saturday night against the Philadelphia Flyers in the second half of a back-to-back, they will need to get to their game, and quick. The 2006-07 Hurricanes started 0-4 after winning the Cup that June. Hopefully it doesn’t happen again, but starting 0-1-1 isn’t ideal for the defending Stanley Cup champions.