Hurricanes’ Bussi to start Game 4; Andersen not in lineup

It looks like the Carolina Hurricanes are going with a goaltending change for Game 4.

While the warmups ahead of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights were going to give us an indication about whether the starting goaltender for the Canes was going to be Frederik Andersen or Brandon Bussi, it wasn’t in the expected way. Andersen did not come out for warmups, which means Bussi will be the starting goaltender, and Pyotr Kochetkov will back up for Carolina in Game 4.

This decision comes after a poor performance from Andersen in Game 3, which saw him allow four goals on 16 shots in the first two periods of the game, on top of two other goals which were waived off. Down 4-0 at the time, the Hurricanes switched goaltenders for the third period, with Bussi then holding strong in the third period as his team came back to tie the game. Even though the Hurricanes lost the game in double overtime, Bussi stopped 18 of 19 shots. While some thought Carolina would go back to Andersen considering his performance throughout the entirety of the playoffs, they have opted to go with Bussi.

However, there is another potential wrinkle to this decision: the potential for injury. The second Vegas goal waived off in Game 3 was due to goaltender interference, as Ivan Barbashev hit Andersen in the head in the process of the goal going in. Andersen was laying on the ice after the play, but was not pulled from the game and played out the rest of the period. Considering the fact that Andersen allowed four goals after the fact, was not on the bench for the remainder of the game, and did not participate in practices before Game 4, a possible concussion may be the issue for Andersen, hence why he isn’t even the backup goalie on Tuesday.

However, if Andersen is dealing with an injury, the Hurricanes won’t admit it. The team indicated that Andersen’s missed practices were “maintenance days”, and ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported that Andersen’s absence in Game 4 was a healthy scratch, and he has not been designated for injury. According to insider Frank Seravalli, Andersen is the emergency backup goalie for the game.

This will be a big moment for Bussi, as up until Game 3, he had not had any postseason action during the Hurricanes’ run to the final. This comes after a hot and cold regular season, as he started out strong, but eventually struggled down the stretch, leaving the door open for Andersen to start in the playoffs and run with it. Bussi had a 31-6-2 record, an .895 save percentage, two shutouts and an 8.86 5v5 goals saved above expected in 39 games.

Meanwhile, Andersen struggled in the regular season with a 16-14-5 record, an .874 SV% and a 3.92 5v5 GSAx in 35 games, but has been great in the playoffs with a 13-2 record, a .910 SV%, three shutouts and a 7.33 5v5 GSAx.