Aho has goal, assist, Hurricanes top Kings in 9-round shootout

LOS ANGELES -- Sebastian Aho had a short-handed goal and an assist, and the Carolina Hurricanes survived a late comeback in a 6-5 shootout win against the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday.

“They outplayed us from start to finish,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We just scored on every chance we had, basically. The game is just so hard when you’re in the box the whole game. We’re going to just trash it and move on. Thankfully, we get to play tomorrow (at the Anaheim Ducks).”

Jordan Martinook scored the winner in a nine-round shootout, tucking a backhand top shelf for the Hurricanes (2-0-0), who survived after squandering multiple three-goal leads. Teuvo Teravainen also scored short-handed, and Frederik Andersen allowed five goals on 30 shots.

Anze Kopitar scored twice for the Kings (0-1-1), including the tying goal at 18:38 of the third period, scoring in the crease off a Carl Grundstrom pass.

Vladislav Gavrikov made it 5-4 at 11:24 of the third on a one-timer from the left circle.

“Good resilience by us to come back in that game,” Los Angeles forward Trevor Moore said. “Obviously, we don’t want to be playing those high-scoring games. We want to play a little bit more low-event games, but we’ll take the point.”

Kevin Fiala had three assists, and Pheonix Copley allowed five goals on 19 shots for Los Angeles, which has allowed 10 goals in regulation through two games.

“The brain cramps — I can’t use some words I’d like to use — the individual errors were very costly for the group, as a whole, and those have to get cleaned up,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “There are some guys that have to get sharp.”

Brent Burns opened the scoring 4:15 into the game on a wrist shot from the left circle.

Aho made it 2-0 at 6:41, beating Copley five-hole on a short-handed breakaway after Fiala turned the puck over in the neutral zone. It was Aho’s 17th career short-handed goal, setting a new Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers record; Eric Staal had 16.

“There’s a lot of room out there in those situations, and he’s always looking to go,” Brind’Amour said of Aho. “We give him the green light when he’s got an opportunity, and he’s been good on the kill, for sure.”

Jesperi Kotkaniemi put Carolina up 3-0 at 13:28 when his sharp-angle shot from the left circle went in off Copley’s left skate.

Drew Doughty cut the deficit to 3-1 at 18:27 on a slap shot from the left circle.

Brendan Lemieux took Tony DeAngelo’s stretch pass to score on a wrist shot from the left circle at 3:03 of the second for a 4-1 lead.

Kopitar attacked the crease and converted on Adrian Kempe’s pass through the slot to cut it to 4-2 at 5:20.

Teravainen scored the Hurricanes’ second short-handed goal on a 2-on-1 pass from Aho to make it 5-2 at 10:23.

Trevor Moore scored on the power play with a one-timer from the left circle to cut it to 5-3 at 13:46.

Los Angeles was 2-for-7 on the power play and allowed two short-handed goals. Carolina was 0-for-4.

“It’s not the style we want to play,” Aho said. “Way too many penalties. Weird game. So much weird stuff happened there, but obviously, a win is a win.”

NOTES: Aho has the most short-handed goals in the NHL since 2016-17 (17). He has 471 career points (219 goals, 252 assists), two behind Brind’Amour for fourth in Hurricanes/Whalers history. … Lemieux made his Hurricanes debut after signing a one-year, $800,000 contract on July 11. He played three seasons with the Kings (2020-23). … Los Angeles defenseman Jordan Spence had an assist in his season debut.