The holidays are over as the Carolina Hurricanes make their way to the halfway point of the season. December was a bit of a ride for the group. After a slower start, they matched their season-high win streak by conquering five straight games in the middle of the month, including three straight in the shootout. However, the end of the month brought with it some rough patches.
Still, the Hurricanes finish the month with the best record in the Eastern Conference, sitting with 51 points. Their edge in the Metropolitan Division is small, leading the New York Islanders by three points before Wednesday's action around the league. There was much to the good for the group in December, so let's relive some of the highs and the lows that the holiday season brought.
Stories of the Month
The bus keeps driving: With stability in the net looked at as a major need for the Canes, Brandon Bussi appears to be that calming force. It seemed that he'd take a back seat once Pyotr Kochetkov and Frederik Andersen were fully healthy in November, but that's not quite how it went down. Instead, Bussi took the net more than anyone else in the trio.
In seven starts this month, Bussi went 6-0-1, with his lone blemish being a shootout loss to the Panthers. Even in that start, he stopped a career-high 38 shots. Bussi spent the early part of the month setting team and NHL history. He's now the NHL record-holder for the quickest goalie to ten career wins, doing so in 11 starts.
Welcome Back, Power Play: While I'm not ready to declare that the power play is back and better than ever, it was light-years better than it had been in October and November. In 15 games this month, the Hurricanes converted on nearly a quarter of their chances, striking 11 times on 45 attempts. After zero games with multiple power-play goals, the Canes did it three times in December.
The Canes did an excellent job of spreading the wealth, too. Six different players scored a power-play goal, four of whom had two or more. 11 players had at least one point, led by Jackson Blake's five. Both units found the back of the net throughout the month, forcing each group to step up its game. It's nice to see the special teams getting back to normal a little.
No lead is safe for Carolina: Of course, we can't talk about December without discussing the stretch of games before Christmas against the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Canes lost a few games this month, but none of them were as tough to watch as these three games in five nights.
In all three losses, the Canes held multi-goal leads. They led 3-0 on back-to-back nights on the road before squandering both, losing 4-3 in a shootout to the Cats and 6-4 in regulation to the Bolts. Then, they led 2-0 after 40 minutes in Raleigh against the Panthers, only to allow five unanswered goals in the third. It was like waiting for and watching the Titanic sink three separate times.
The revolving injury door: If we've complained about it once, we've complained about it a million times. Just when it looks like the Canes are about to get relatively close to full strength, someone else goes down, or the same guy gets hurt again. Case and point, the team welcomed back Jaccob Slavin against Philadelphia after missing two months, only for him to get hurt two games later.
Their pre-Christmas road trip was a mess, with Jordan Martinook getting hurt in Nashville before Slavin and Seth Jarvis each exited against the Panthers. Martinook has returned, but Slavin and Jarvis remain sidelined. Worse yet, Pyotr Kochetkov announced on Monday that he'd be getting season-ending hip surgery to address his lingering injury this season. When it rains, it pours.
Best Moment: Jackson Blake calls game
Call it recency bias. Call it pettiness. Call it whatever you want. I choose to call it a Carolina Hurricanes victory over the New York Rangers, which in itself should be enough to crack a smile. The team's effort against their division rival in their final home game of 2025 was almost enough to earn the "best game" label.
Tied at two in overtime and operating on the man advantage, the Hurricanes needed to find a way to finish it before making it to the shootout, even if they'd won three of their last four. Enter Jackson Blake. Redirecting Sebastian Aho's shot, Blake put it perfectly between Igor Shesterkin's pads to net his first-career overtime winner in a 3-2 triumph over the Rangers.
Best Game: The Hurricanes continue their strong play in D.C.
Their meeting with the Washington Capitals on December 11 had all the makings of a frustrating loss for the Hurricanes. They couldn't get anything past Logan Thompson. They were down a goal and kept finding the iron. Finally, Nikolaj Ehlers jumped on a rebound to get the Canes on the board, and they appeared to be in business. That was until Washington regained the lead in the third.
With Brandon Bussi heading to the bench for the extra attacker, Logan Stankoven tied it once again, scoring in a similar way that he had in Game 1 of the second round. Needing a shootout to finish the job, Bussi stopped all three Capitals, and Seth Jarvis scored the lone goal in a 3-2 win. With the win, Bussi became the fastest goalie in NHL history to reach ten wins, keeping his magical story going.
Three Stars of the Month
Third Star: It wasn't a perfect month for Andrei Svechnikov. He had at least one tough turnover in each of the team's losses to Florida and Tampa. Yet, he managed to be the team's most consistent forward at finding the scoresheet. Svechnikov led the Hurricanes with 13 points. His ten helpers were tied with Shayne Gostisbehere for the most this month.
Svechnikov recorded a point in each of the team's four games before the Christmas break. He followed it up with a goal and two assists in the first game back against Detroit, bringing him to three goals and nine points during his five-game point streak. With 27 points, Svechnikov is fourth on the team, and his ten goals are tied with Jordan Staal for fourth.
Second Star: I've spoken about his heroics already, but Jackson Blake kept his strong sophomore campaign rolling in December. Blake made a point to terrorize the Nashville Predators in both of their meetings this month. In Raleigh, Blake recorded two goals and an assist. When he visited Nashville ten days later, he picked up another goal and assist.
Late in the month, deflections and redirections became his preferred method of scoring. Over a four-game stretch, Blake scored three times, all of which came with him tipping one of his teammates' shots. His six goals in December tied him with Sebastian Aho for the most on the team, while his five points on the power play and two game-winning goals paced the Canes.
First Star: For my money, there has been no better story through the first half of the season than the waiver addition who has seemingly brought stability in the net. Brandon Bussi has been simply incredible. If not for a shootout loss to the Panthers, Bussi would've been perfect this month. Alas, he finished with a 6-0-1 record, a 2.05 GAA, and a .915 save percentage in seven starts.
The record books are being rewritten with each start. In December alone, Bussi tied the franchise record for the longest win streak (9) and moved into second for the longest point streak (12; 11-0-1). As mentioned above, he also became the fastest goalie in league history with ten wins. Entering New Year's Eve, Bussi owns the lowest GAA in the league at 2.08.