Carolina's record-breaking goalie faced his childhood team, got to meet his childhood idol and delivered a shutout for a packed house of loved ones.
The 2025-26 season has been the year of Brandon Bussi.
The first year NHLer has broken records and set milestones at a breakneck pace as he's helped keep Carolina amongst the top of the league.
Last Thursday, Bussi added to his accolades as he picked up his second career shutout in a 2-0 win over the New York Rangers.
It was Bussi's second career game against his childhood team, but the first at MSG and the Sound Beach native had quite the contingency in town to see him play.
"Started with 40, might have made its way up to 50 or 60, I don't know," Bussi said on the amount of people he had at the game.
It was the first time Bussi has been able to play near home since coming to Carolina and he got to relish in the opportunity to reconnect with his friends and family in New York.
But not only that, the 27 year old netminder also got the chance to connect with a very special person as well.
Growing up in New York, Bussi was a fan of the New York Rangers, but specifically, his favorite player was Henrik Lundqvist, one of the league's all-time greatest netminders.
"Henrik Lundqvist was my guy," Bussi said. "I was a Rangers fan growing up and so my prime years of growing up, he was the king of New York."
And as fate would have it, the Rangers were hosting a celebration specifically for their netminders as part of their centennial year celebrations and in attendance was Lundqvist.
So after the game, the two got the chance to connect once again.
This is not the first time the two have gotten the chance to chat, as Lundqvist did interview Bussi following a game in January as part of the TNT panel.
"I don't think this is a fluke," Lundqvist had said of Bussi at the time.
But this was the first time they really got the chance to connect in person.
What a moment and what a season for Bussi.
"That was a special start to get and we knew that," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "Also knew that he grew up idolizing that Rangers and Henrik [Lundqvist] so that's pretty cool to do that here with his family and all that. It's a good story."
Recent Articles
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
Stay updated with the most interesting Carolina Hurricanes stories, analysis, breaking news and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News to never miss a story.