LAS VEGAS – Brandon Bussi’s phone blew up with text messages after making his Stanley Cup playoff debut in the third period and two overtimes in Saturday’s Game 3.He did his best to get back to everybody, “but if I didn’t answer anybody that’s seeing this right now, I’m sorry,” Bussi said after practicing in the Carolina Hurricanes starter’s net Monday in advance of Tuesday’s Game 4.Whether he’s starting or not remains to be seen. Frederik Andersen didn’t practice due to a maintenance day.Asked if he knew if he was starting, Bussi smiled. “You know Roddy’s our coach, right? That’s all I can say. Let’s see if you guys have better luck.”Well, no such luck.Rod Brind’Amour wasn’t about to tip his hand during his availability, not risking giving the Vegas Golden Knights any information whatsoever.“I think we’ll keep it quiet,” Brind’Amour said. “That’s the only suspenseful thing around here that I have to hold on to. It seems to have taken on a life of its own, so I kind of enjoy it. But yes, it was a maintenance day for (Andersen).”Brind’Amour did say Andersen is fine after getting plunked in the head early in the second period by Vegas’ Ivan Barbashev. That incidental contact led to Jack Eichel’s goal quickly being taken off the board by referees Chris Rooney and Wes McCauley following a coach’s challenge. Andersen did give up four goals in the second period after that head contact and didn’t sit on the bench the rest of the game after being pulled.Bussi, playing for the first time since April 14, came on and stopped 18 of 19 shots before Shea Theodore’s fluky double overtime winner ricocheted off the yellow dasher, off Bussi’s skate and in.The puck just skipped over Jordan Martinook’s stick after it hit the end boards. Martinook said he watched the replay in the last few days “about a hundred times” and wished so badly he was able to intercept that bouncing puck.“I thought he was incredible,” Martinook said of Bussi. “I think the first shot he took was a penalty shot, and then comes in, and he was just so calm for the whole time, and just gave us a chance to come back. So that’s what you want from your goalie. Let’s be honest, he’s been great for us all year. He hasn’t got a chance to get in there (in the playoffs), and he did. He played really, really well.”Bussi, 27, won 31 of his 39 games during his first NHL season.“I think he’s just grateful for the moment,” Brind’Amour said. “Every day, he’s just happy to be here, grateful for any opportunity that he can get. And to be honest, pretty much every time we’ve given him any type of opportunity, he seizes the moment. That’s what he did the other night, too. He came in, clearly was solid.”The Marner approachOne of the stories of the series and the playoffs at large has been the play of Mitch Marner, who had himself a four-point night with a natural hat trick in Game 3. He’s now the leading contender for the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP without any particularly obvious competitors.Marner, of course, is a player the Hurricanes came close to acquiring last season and someone they’d seen plenty of thanks to his time in Toronto. He had 20 points in 20 games against Carolina while with the Maple Leafs. Now he’s got seven in the final, and Vegas is winning his five-on-five minutes 8-3 with a 14-6 edge in high-danger chances.“I don’t really see any difference, unfortunately,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s one of the more elite players of the game. We’ve got to find a way to not give him the free ones. He’s going to find ways to make (other plays), but those ones where he’s all alone, those are the ones we can definitely do a better job of.”A chunk of his minutes have come against Carolina’s second line of Logan Stankoven, Jackson Blake and Taylor Hall. William Carrier’s injury scrambled the Hurricanes’ lines in Game 3, but one constant was that with Hall on the ice, Carolina has largely played Marner to a draw; Vegas holds a 2-1 edge in goals but scoring chance totals have largely been even.Hall’s approach to slowing Marner down: “Just stay near him. You don’t shadow him, but when he gets the puck and he moves it, they’re looking to get it right back to him all over on the ice, and I don’t blame him. He’s a fantastic hockey player.”“He’s very hard to get a lick on. He’s hard to hit. He’s slippery, and he’s more sturdy than he looks. So, yeah, there’s a few things we can do, but if he’s playing like that and scoring goals like that, it gives them an advantage and we have to figure that out.”Cool with chaosThere was a moment, Hall said, when the chaos of Game 3 — featuring a pair of disallowed Vegas goals, Carolina’s second-period short-circuit, Marner’s hat trick and the Golden Knights’ blown four-goal lead — registered with him on the bench.“I looked at (Shayne Gostisbehere), I think it was like two minutes left in the third period, and we were both like, ‘What the eff is going on,’” Hall said.Both he and Brind’Amour, though, said they’re comfortable with the overall style of play.“Whatever the way the game goes, we seem to be able to play it,” Brind’Amour said. “If it’s a 0-0 game, no problem. If it’s a high-scoring game, we seem to find a way to fit in that too. And maybe that wasn’t necessarily the case in past years. But this year, certainly, it’s been very evident.”Part of the reason that’s the case, of course, is because of the added impact of players like Hall and Stankoven, who played less front-and-center roles in the 2025 postseason, and the addition of Nikolaj Ehlers, a potentially game-breaking talent. The end result has been a fireworks factory of a series, which seems to have caught some people by surprise.Not Hall.“I know the discourse was a little weird before and people weren’t as excited about this finals,” he said, “but I think it’s pretty obvious it’s the two best teams in the league going at it. It’s been so tight-checking and physical, and they’re big guys over there. The games have been crazy. So no lead is safe. If we get up at some point we know what’s coming. We know that there’s the possibility that anything can happen. So it’s been fun to play in. We’d love to be up 2-1 or up 3-0.”Memorable day off for CanesMost NHL players and coaches would love to play the next game immediately in the playoffs. But as tough as Saturday’s ending was for Carolina, it probably was beneficial for the Hurricanes to have these two days between Games 3 and 4 to reset physically and mentally.After watching video Sunday morning, the Canes had a team event at the 130,000-square foot UFC Apex.Not to fight Conor McGregor or somebody like that, to be clear.“We got to use all of their cold tubs and hot tubs and their treatment rooms,” Martinook said. “We got a stretch in, we played some soccer. Had a good day.“Once you’re in a series you just get in such a rhythm. Yesterday, it’s a great day to be able to take your mind away from it. Like you don’t even think about hockey. Obviously, the time change here, we have some time after the games out here that you can kind of decompress and watch how that unfolded the other night. This is a destination for a lot of people, people got family here, and you can kind of go spend some time with them, get away from it, and then get dialed in once today hits.”