RALEIGH, N.C. -- Jordan Martinook was singing the praises of Carolina Hurricanes teammate Sebastian Aho.
Suddenly, though, he stopped.
He wasn’t out of words. He was afraid.
“I’ll catch something from [Aho] for pumping his tires too much,” Martinook said.
Aho, an alternate captain, isn’t about headlines, he’s about results.
He doesn’t like accolades; instead, the 26-year-old center burns with a desire to win games. It is all he thinks about, especially during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Personal results, he says, come from that commitment to the team.
“I just try to do whatever I can to win hockey games,” Aho said. “Sometimes it is scoring a goal, making a play, but sometimes it’s making a backcheck or lifting a stick on the rush.
“We just try to play the hockey game and we try to win it.”
The Hurricanes need to win their next game to extend their season. They play the New York Rangers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at PNC Arena on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SNO, SNE, SN360, TVAS, CBC).
Win and they force a Game 7, keeping hope alive that they can become the fifth team in 210 attempts to reverse sweep a best-of-7 series. Lose and their season is finished far earlier than they hoped.
It’s unclear how the game will play out, but it’s clear Aho will be a focal point.
He leads Carolina in scoring in this postseason with 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in 10 games. Until being held without a point in a 4-1 victory in Game 5, Aho had a point in each of the first four games against New York, including a huge goal in a season-saving Game 4. He also had six assists in the first three games.
Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis marvels at Aho’s ability to impact games.
“I think he does a really good job of showing up in big moments,” Jarvis said. “I’m starting to learn how to keep calm through those stressful situations, whether its late in the game and you need a tying or go-ahead goal.
“It’s [important] to show up in big moments, and that’s what he’s done a good job of his whole career, especially in playoffs. It’s pretty noticeable how he always comes around.”
It’s noticeable, but people outside of Carolina are still coming around to Aho and his place among the elite players in the League. He’s had 35 or more goals in four of the past five regular seasons and had a career-best 89 points (36 goals, 53 assists) this season.
Aho is on the brink of superstardom, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. But there is more there for the player.
“I think he is quietly becoming that,” Brind’Amour said. “As a team, the more success you have, I think than you get that title. We have to still get to the next step for him to really get that title.”
Aho centers the top line with Andrei Svechnikov and Jake Guentzel on his flanks. Together, they have combined for 28 points (nine goals, 19 assists) in 10 games this postseason. They have been a handful for the Rangers in each game of this series.
“He’s selfless in the fact that he understands that he has to score and be a leader that way, but he also understands there’s a way to do it to impact and help his team,” Brind’Amour said. “You see that in the way he plays. Very responsible.”
He also plays a strong game, a game that belies his size (6-foot, 176 pounds).
“You ever see his forearms?” Martinook said. “They are like most people’s quads.”
Jarvis said, “He’s sneaky jacked.”
It gives Aho a power-forward element to his game that many opponents assume -- at their own peril -- isn’t there.
“He’s probably one of the hardest working guys in our locker room,” Svechnikov said. “On the ice, he wins every battle and that’s how he’s been successful. He’s very strong on the puck every time, and you don’t see that from a lot of skilled players if you look around the League. He’s one of those guys who battles a lot and wins the battles.”
Hurricanes forward Evgeny Kuznetsov has played with some pretty good players during his career, including a Stanley Cup championship with the Washington Capitals in 2018.
He believes Aho has the personality and the DNA to be a champion.
“He’s a franchise player to this franchise,” Kuznetsov said. “He's a good example every night. He’s a big piece of this team and I feel like he is one of those players that makes a difference in the game.”
Martinook says he knows Aho will be among those counted on when the dust clears Thursday.
“He plays in all situations and just leads the way for us,” Martinook said. “He’s just got that ‘it factor’ about him. It’s fun to watch, especially this time of year. He seems to elevate his game every time we are in the playoffs.”
Aho couldn’t care less about the compliments when they were relayed to him. He said he just wants to win.
He’ll provide whatever is needed to reach that result.
“Honestly, this time of year, you just want to win the hockey games,” Aho said after Game 4. “Don’t get me wrong, you always want to score. You want to score points, it feels awesome.
“That feeling, after you win, though, is 10 time better.”
