Aho, fellow Finns ‘take it all in’ after Hurricanes’ Global Series sweep in Helsinki

HELSINKI -- The Carolina Hurricanes were Finn it to win it at the 2026 NHL Global Series Finland.

Finnish players Sebastian Aho and Jesperi Kotkaniemi each factored into one of Carolina’s two first-period goals when the Hurricanes jumped out to a three-goal lead in a 5-1 victory against the Seattle Kraken at Veikkaus Arena on Saturday that gave them a sweep of the two-game series.

On Thursday, Aho had two goals and Finnish defenseman Juuso Valimaki added another in a 4-1 win.

When the final buzzer sounded Saturday, the teams stood on opposing blue lines for the Three Stars ceremony and the Player of the Game award. Aho stood there, head tilted up, smile splayed across his face, basking in the adulation of the Finnish fans, the adoration of his countrymen. 

It hit him then. All the emotions of a weeklong adventure that he will carry with him for the rest of his days. 

“I was just trying to take it all in,” Aho said. “Obviously, I thought the crowd was great, and the whole experience was great. Standing there as a winning team makes it more enjoyable. It’s a pretty good feeling and I just wanted to share it with my teammates.”

The center had shared so much with his teammates throughout the week, eagerly showing them his home country, his customs, his favorite foods. They went to the sauna together, plunged into the Baltic Sea as one, and had several team dinners where they ate salmon soup and reindeer.

In the process, a close team forged in the crucible of a run to a Stanley Cup championship last season somehow became tighter. 

“(This) definitely does help to find an even stronger bond on a trip like this,” said Aho, an alternate captain. “It's been awesome.”

As much as Aho -- and Kotkaniemi and Valimaki -- helped navigate their friends through a strange land, those teammates helped the Finns make the best possible impression on the ice. 

Across the two games, the Hurricanes dominated. They scored nine goals, including four on the power play. They allowed two. They had 67 shots on goal and surrendered 26. They had 180 shot attempts, including 96 Saturday.

That number left Seattle coach Lane Lambert befuddled. 

“I’ve never been part of a team that had (96) shot attempts in a game,” he said.

After Aho’s two-goal game Thursday, Mark Jankowski and Andrei Svechnikov each scored two goals Saturday. 

“You come here and see how excited they were to play in their home country,” Jankowski said. “It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them to be able to play in the NHL in their home country. We all wanted to bring it for them, and I think they honestly led the way. All three of those guys played unbelievable for us these two games and led the way, so it was definitely a little more special, I think.”

Nobody played better than Aho. He was everywhere all at once on the ice for these two games as he had been off the ice throughout the week.

His assist on Jackson Blake’s game-opening goal Saturday was the perfect illustration. 

Nikolaj Ehlers fed a cross-ice pass to Aho, who was facing the right corner with his back to the play. As two Seattle players closed on him in the face-off circle, he sent a no-look pass through his legs to Blake, who snapped his wrists to put Carolina ahead and on its way.

Kotkaniemi is one of Aho’s closer friends on the team. After the game, Kotkaniemi talked about how Aho showed a different side of himself on this trip, coming out of his shell even more. 

Coach Rod Brind’Amour, who has been around Aho since he arrived in Raleigh, North Carolina, as a shy teenager a decade ago, also noticed it. But, more importantly, he saw it on the ice here too. 

“He was happy to be here and we knew the importance of it for him,” the coach said. “But I thought he really took it to another level. He wanted to perform, and he did. 

“He was, I thought, one of the best players out there on every shift. He’s going to remember this. He came home and he showed well in front of his people. Really happy for him.”

The Hurricanes fly home Sunday, returning to what their coach called the Groundhog Day of the NHL grind. They do so sitting atop the League at 16-3-2, riding a four-game winning streak in which they have outscored their opponents 23-7.

They have not showed one hint of the hangover that often comes after winning the Stanley Cup. In fact, they might be better. 

Almost everyone is back from last season. Captain Jordan Staal, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, returned Saturday after missing more than a month with a calf injury. He makes them complete. 

A stern test awaits in their first game back in North America, a home date against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.

That gives Aho four days days to sort through his emotions and file his memories. 

He might need four years.

“So much happened this week,” Aho said. “At times, it was almost overwhelming, but it was so much fun. So much cool stuff, it’s tough to unpack really, but I will definitely remember this week.”