- Brandon Bussi stopped all 22 shots to shut out Vegas in the Cup-clinching Game 6
- The undrafted goalie didn’t make his NHL debut until age 27 last October
- Read below for the rare company Bussi joined with the shutout
Brandon Bussi went undrafted. He played 111 games in the minors and did not make his NHL debut until he was 27. On Sunday he stopped all 22 shots and won the Stanley Cup.
The Carolina goalie blanked Vegas 3-0 in Game 6 for his first career playoff shutout, in just the third postseason start of his NHL life. It landed exactly eight months after his NHL debut, a 5-1 win over San Jose on Oct. 14.
The shutout put him in rare company. Bussi became the third goalie in NHL history to record a Cup-clinching shutout in his first NHL season, joining Earl Robertson in 1937 and Andy Aitkenhead in 1933. He is also the second undrafted goalie to do it, after Bernie Parent.
Jaccob Slavin was asked about his goalie after the win.
“Unbelievable. He played so well. We don’t win that game tonight without him. He made some awesome, timely saves. We wouldn’t be here without him.”
See Bussi slam the door in the Game 6 highlights:
Bussi’s father, Robert, never doubted any of it. He talked about watching his son take over the biggest stage in the sport.
“He’s built for this. This is his thing. This was his thing from the time he started playing hockey. We had no doubt that he was going to perform the way he did because he was prepared.”
Bussi took over in Game 3 and never gave the net back. The veteran he replaced, Frederik Andersen, got the Cup handed to him first. The kid who waited until 27 for his shot finished the job.
