Recap: Aho, Välimäki Help Canes Down Kraken In Finland

HELSINKI - Sebastian Aho's two goals in his home country headlined the Carolina Hurricanes' 4-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken at Veikkaus Arena on Thursday.

GAME SUMMARY | BOX SCORE | BUY TICKETS

Carolina wasted little time asserting its dominance in the battle, racing out to a 2-0 lead in the first frame. Nikolaj Ehlers got the scoring started with a seeing-eye wrister from range at 11:44, followed by an unsuccessful Seattle challenge for goaltender interference. On the ensuing power play, Aho brought the local fans to their feet by making it 2-0 on a perfect back-door dish from Jackson Blake.

Continuing to roll on the other side of the break, the Canes added to their lead near the midway mark of the game as Tampere, Finland native Juuso Välimäki delivered another jolt with a quick shot off a Logan Stankoven faceoff win.

Bookending the storybook showing in the third, Aho's second came off some tic-tac-toe puck movement with Andrei Svechnikov and K'Andre Miller, who teed up the Canes' alternate captain for a one-timer at 11:41.

Seattle ultimately got on the board with 6:45 to go, but Carolina's lead was safe in the hands of Brandon Bussi, who finished with 12 saves on 13 shots for his second win in a row.

Stats & Standouts

• Sebastian Aho's two-goal performance was historic in multiple ways:
  • His 321st and 322nd career goals brought him into a tie with Eric Staal for the second-most goals in franchise history. Only Ron Francis (382) has scored more.
  • His 48th career multi-goal game eclipsed Ron Francis for the second-most in franchise history. His next will match Eric Staal for the Hurricanes/Whalers record (49).
  • Aho also surpassed Olli Jokinen (321) for the fourth-most goals scored by a Finnish player in NHL history. Among all-time Finns, only Teemu Selanne (131) and Jari Kurri (121) have recorded more multi-goal games.
  • Aho's 70th career game-winning goal brought him to within two of matching Jari Kurri (72) for second place in NHL history among Finns, trailing only Teemu Selanne (110).
  • Notching his 80th career power-play goal, Aho also moved ahead of Saku Koivu (79) for seventh place in NHL history among Finnish players.
  • Finally, on the 10-year anniversary of his first NHL goal, which came against then-Washington netminder Philipp Grubauer, Aho once again found twine against the German backstop to take over the team lead in the category this season (12).
• Juuso Välimäki joined Aho in the goal column to mark the second time Finnish teammates have scored in an NHL regular-season game played in the country. The other instance was by Panthers duo Anton Lundell and Aleksander Barkov during the first of two games during the 2024 NHL Global Series.
• Jackson Blake's career-best point streak now stands at 10 games after setting up Aho's first strike. The 23-year-old has eight goals, four assists and 12 points in that span.
• Nikolaj Ehlers added a goal and an assist for his third multi-point showing this season as he, too, enjoyed a rare opportunity to play in front of family and friends from Denmark.
• Logan Stankoven also doubled up on the scoresheet, tallying two assists to extend his point streak to six games (3G, 9A).
• K'Andre Miller nabbed his first two-point game of the year with two helpers. Miller has points in three straight outings (4A).
• Taylor Hall skated in his 1,000th career game on Thursday, becoming the first player in NHL history to log that milestone contest outside North America. Hall's NHL debut came with Edmonton on Oct. 7, 2010, which also happened to be the same date the Hurricanes last played in Finland, a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild in Helsinki. 
• European players accounted for all four Hurricanes goals – the most combined goals scored by European players for one team in a game played outside of North America.
• The Hurricanes (15-3-2) tied the 2020-21 Lightning (15-4-1) for the second-most wins by a reigning Stanley Cup champion through 20 games of a season. The only team with more is the 1929-30 Bruins (18-2-0). The Lightning went on to repeat that season, while the Bruins reached the Final.

They Said It...

Rod Brind'Amour taking a trip down memory lane on a big day for Sebastian Aho...

“I’ve been fortunate to be with him since he came to the league. I remember his first practice and his development practice when he showed up. I remember talking to some of the guys and saying, ‘I don’t know if he’s going to make it,' just because he was just a kid. He was so little. He just willed himself into becoming the player he is. You knew it meant a lot to him. He doesn’t celebrate. You could see all week that we’ve been here; he’s just extremely happy, and he wanted to do what he did tonight, and that was great to see.”

Jesperi Kotkaniemi on his experience today…

“It was awesome. Seeing all of my family there right away in the stands, it was pretty surreal. I got pretty excited hearing Fishy in the starting lineup too. That’s a pretty cool moment, people finally seeing him here. It was just a great night.”

Rod Brind'Amour showing some love to Juuso Välimäki...

“Really happy for him. We knew when we got him what he’d been going through with the injuries. Even last year, he played all year in the minors. He played really well; we just didn’t have a spot. This year, there was an opportunity and he’s just taken it. He’s really endeared himself to the group, the coaching staff, and everything. I think that was special for him to get that goal. He’s contributing and he’s a big part of what we’re doing.”

Jesperi Kotkaniemi when asked how the team follows up that performance on Saturday…

“We want to play the same way. I don’t think we gave them much today. Unfortunately, we gave them one in the last period, but other than that, it was a pretty solid night for us. I think we followed our game plan pretty well, and we’ll try to do the same thing on Saturday.”

What's Next?

The Canes are scheduled to practice on Friday before squaring off with Seattle again on Saturday to wrap up the Global Series games. 

Next Game: Saturday, Nov. 14 vs. Seattle | 1:00 p.m. ET | Helsinki, Finland | Hurricanes Hockey Network

Next Home Game: Thursday, Nov. 19 vs. Montreal | 7:00 p.m. ET | Hurricanes Hockey Network | Tickets | Parking