Hurricanes get off to stumbling start, lose to Capitals

Chip Alexander, The News & Observer (Raleigh) on Oct 2, 2026

Published in Hockey

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

RALEIGH, N.C. — Logan Stankoven said the Carolina Hurricanes were lethargic.

Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said there wasn’t enough urgency in their play.

Canes captain Jordan Staal, in simpler terms, said they were outplayed.

Whatever the reason, and all of that was a factor, the Hurricanes followed up an overtime loss to Florida in their season opener with a listless start and a 5-2 loss Friday to the Washington Capitals.

This was not what the Canes envisioned after raising their 2026 Stanley Cup banner Tuesday at Lenovo Center. They were determined to come out of the gates strong in a new season, with a veteran team with names on the Stanley Cup and new championship rings in their possession.

Instead, the Canes could not get a puck past Panthers goalie Jacob Markstrom in a 1-0 overtime loss, then could not score against the Caps’ Logan Thompson until late in the second period, when center Sebastian Aho finally found the net on a power play.

The Caps led 4-0 before Aho’s goal with 3:10 left in the period They led 5-1 just eight seconds after Aho’s goal as the Caps streaked down the ice after the faceoff and Ryan Leonard scored.

The first period was all about the Caps’ alert, aggressive play and the Canes’ lethargy — a good description by Stankoven, who tipped in a shot by K’Andre Miller in the third period for Carolina’s second goal.

That was it against Thompson, who showed good mobility and quickness in net and had 31 saves.

Canes goalie Brandon Bussi, so good for so long in the opener, was shaky early in his second start. He allowed two soft goals to Alex Tuch, a key offseason acquisition making his debut for the Caps.

Tuch’s first goal came after Bussi left the net to play the puck, only to have it knocked away by Pierre-Luc Dubois. The puck was knocked to the front of the net, where Tuch gladly put it in. His second came on a tap-in of a rebound of a Tom Wilson shot that Bussi could not fully corral and pushed the Caps’ lead to 3-0.

“You can’t give good teams free goals and I thought we gave two of those up,” Brind’Amour said. “You can’t do that.

“We’ve got a couple of guys that need to get their game up. When we get 20 guys rolling we’re a good team and when we don’t, it’s too hard.”

This was not a tight-checking game like the one Tuesday against Florida. Not by the Canes, who were too loose in the defensive zone and beaten in transition, with slow backchecking from some of the forwards, in the first period.

“They came ready to play, and they outworked us,” Canes defenseman Sean Walker said. “We know the recipe and what works, and we haven’t gotten to that yet.”

The home team finally got the fans engaged on the power play, showing some good puck movement and getting their shots. Brind’Amour also shook up the lines, looking for some semblance of offense.

Aho finally broke through off a pass from Andrei Svechnikov, who had a game-high six shots.

“We began to find our game in the second half, but as you well know you can’t take a period off or a period and a half off,” Stankoven said. “I think we need more of a shot mentality. We need to attack.”

But the Caps quickly answered and that was that. After missing the playoffs last season, Washington made some offseason moves that again could make it a contender in the Metropolitan Division, which the Caps won two seasons ago.

The Canes did not have long to dwell on the loss or the 0-1-1 start. They play again Saturday in Philadelphia against the Flyers, who also have had a slow start to their season.

“This a good wake-up call for us,” Stankoven said.

And, perhaps not totally unexpected after a championship run, a shortened offseason and the absence of versatile forward Seth Jarvis, still recovering from offseason surgery.

“I knew we’d go through a little bit of this,” Brind’Amour said. “And you’ve got to remember these are two really good teams we played, and they’re not going to let you off the hook at all if you’re not at the top of your game.”