Aho, Hurricanes rally past Wild in OT

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Sebastian Aho scored 2:57 into overtime to give the Carolina Hurricanes a 5-4 win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday.

Aho, who had two goals and two assists, beat Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk blocker side on a shot from the high slot.
Justin Williams had a goal and two assists, Teuvo Teravainen and Justin Faulk each had two assists, and Curtis McElhinney made 19 saves for the Hurricanes (4-0-1), who tied the best start in Carolina/Hartford Whalers history (Whalers started 4-0-1 (ties) in 1995-96).
WATCH: [All Hurricanes vs. Wild highlights]
Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour is the first coach in Hurricanes history to earn at least a point in each of his first five games.
"The message has been pretty clear from Day One, and I think they've been doing what we've asked, or they're trying to, and I think they see that it's a fun way to play, but it's also a way that (we) can have outcomes like tonight where we can come back," Brind'Amour said. "Again, we don't want to give up four goals every night because we can't count on getting five, but they believe in each other right now and we somehow have to keep that momentum."

Jared Spurgeon and Mikael Granlund each had a goal and an assist, and Dubnyk made 52 saves for Minnesota (1-1-2).
"In a realistic world, you're happy you got a point out of that," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. "[We wouldn't have] if it wasn't for Devan Dubnyk. He's been our No. 1 star in all four games that he's played. Should we (have) won when we were in the position of winning those two games when they pulled the goalie and scored an extra goal? Yeah. We probably shouldn't have been in that position to start off with."
Williams scored with 1:08 remaining in the third period to tie it 4-4 on a shot from a sharp angle after the Hurricanes pulled McElhinney for the extra skater.
Jordan Staal scored off a rebound from Trevor van Riemsdyk's shot at 8:12 of the first period to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead. Boudreau challenged for goaltender interference, but the call was upheld after a video review.

Charlie Coyle tied it 1-1 at 16:09 on the power play. Brett Pesce redirected a pass from Aho in the slot to make it 2-1 at 15:13 of the second period.
Spurgeon tied it 2-2 at 1:20 of the third with a spinning backhand in the slot over McElhinney's blocker. Jason Zucker gave the Wild a 3-2 lead with a power-play goal at 5:41. The goal was Zucker's 100th career goal.
Aho tied it 3-3 on a rebound off an initial shot from Faulk on the power play at 9:22. Granlund gave Minnesota a 4-3 lead at 15:47 of the third.
"System is one thing, it's an attitude though," Williams said. "An attitude that we're never out of it and we can get it done. Listen, it's very early, but we're trending in the right direction. We're doing some good things and as a result, we're racking up some wins."

They said it

"We've got to take advantage of being on a good little roll, because it can turn in a heartbeat. We've got a real tough game tomorrow (at Winnipeg Jets), but we got to enjoy it. You got to take some time to enjoy what just happened because that was one of those wins that you don't see very often." -- Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour
"I don't have a fountain of youth pill. We are what we are out there. We're not going to be the fastest team, but we can be a quicker team. If we're a quicker team, then we get to loose pucks a little quicker and they don't have possession all night long. And if we make passes tape to tape, then we look like a faster team. But right now, we're getting pucks and the defense can't find the forwards. The forwards can't get open for the defensemen to give them pucks. Consequently, you're losing it and they're going the other way. The first two periods were actually embarrassing." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau

Need to know

Aho has 10 points (four goals, six assists) in a five-game point streak. … Staal has six points (four goals, two assists) in five games. … Wild forward Zach Parise has five points (one goal, four assists) in four games. … Zucker has four points (three goals, one assist) in the past two games. …Dubnyk has a .934 save percentage (156 saves on 167 shots) in four starts this season.

What's Next

Hurricanes: At the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN360, SN1, FS-CR, NHL.TV)
Wild: At the Nashville Predators on Monday (8 p.m. ET; FS-TN, FS-N, FS-WI, NHL.TV)