With frigid temperatures surrounding Raleigh the past week, the Carolina Hurricanes took their early holiday trip down to the Sunshine State to face an all-too-familiar foe in the Florida Panthers.
With a five-game win streak for the team and a nine-game win streak for starting goaltender Brandon Bussi on the line, along with plenty of Eastern Conference Finals demons to exorcise, this game surely carried more weight on the mind of Canes’ players than the standings themselves. With a goal from center Jordan Staal in the first period, two goals from center Sebastian Aho in the third, and an overall complete 50 minutes of hockey thus far, the Hurricanes’ 3-0 lead looked as if it would hold and continue their pre-holiday road trip on a high note.
Unfortunately for the Canes, hockey games don’t end after 50 minutes, and the final 10 minutes is all the Panthers (19-13-2) needed to mount quite the improbable comeback ultimately defeating Carolina (22-9-3), 4-3 via the shootout.
By the time the clock ticked into the single-digits in the third period, Florida had already begun its suffocation. Its first goal was via one of the newer Panthers, winger Brad Marchand. After giving Bussi a tap in the place where the sun doesn’t shine and effectively knocking him down, Marchand was able to tuck the puck past Bussi to move the Panthers back within two. While many considered this a possible indicator of goaltender interference, the Hurricanes chose not to challenge due to the possibility of a Panthers’ power play if the challenge was unsuccessful.
Brad Marchand with the Florida Panthers’ first goal of the game#CarolinaCulture #TimeToHunt #NHL pic.twitter.com/yQBAqx1gik
— Queen of the Puck (@rbarkleyhockey) December 20, 2025
As time began to tick down, the Panthers resorted to vacating their net in hopes of bringing the game within one goal. After Aho failed to clear the puck out of the Canes’defensive zone mere moments after a faceoff win, the Panthers sent Bussi scrambling and allowed center Sam Bennett to find the back of an essentially vacated net.
Within the final minute of regulation, the game looked to be all but won for Carolina. Winger Andrei Svechnikov had the chance to put the game to bed with the Panthers’ net once again empty. However, he couldn’t get a clean shot away, leading to a neutral zone turnover and an ensuing Panthers’ offensive possession. Much as they had for the previous nine minutes, the Panthers continued to pressure Bussi and the Hurricanes defense. It once again paid off as with 42 seconds remaining, center Sam Reinhart netted the equalizer on a shot that just barely trickled behind Bussi and into the Carolina net.
Heading into overtime, the Hurricanes hoped to put the last 10 minutes behind them and escape Sunrise with two points. Instead, they left with something significantly worse: an injury to star center Seth Jarvis.
Just 20 seconds into overtime, Jarvis looked to end the game fast. As he began to make his move inside towards the net, he was met by Florida center Evan Rodrigues who sent him crashing into the goalposts making for quite a scary moment on the ice. Jarvis was helped off the ice by the Hurricanes’ athletic training staff and did not return for the rest of overtime.
Seth Jarvis will be “out a while”, head coach Rod Brind’Amour announced.
Jarvis left the game after being tripped by Evan Rodrigues and crashing hard into the post. There was no penalty on the play.pic.twitter.com/s3WALOx5b7
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 20, 2025
The remaining four minutes in overtime saw both goaltenders standing tall like they had for most of the game. With the score still knotted at 3 at the end of the five-minute period, this game was to be decided via the shootout. Alas, the Hurricanes couldn’t finish the job as the Florida Panthers ultimately won the shootout 2-1 in four rounds with goals from Rodrigues and Reinhart as they completed one of the most improbable comebacks in the NHL season thus far.
The Hurricanes will have their opportunity for revenge against the Panthers as Florida will make the trip up to the Lenovo Center on Tuesday, Dec. 23. But before then the Hurricanes have one last stop on their road trip as they prepare for battle against the other Sunshine State team, the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Canes and Lightning will meet on Saturday, Dec. 20 with puck drop set for 7 p.m.
