Sebastian Aho scored twice and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Seattle Kraken 4-1 on Thursday in the NHL Global Series opener at Veikkaus Arena in Helsinki, Finland. The win pushed Carolina’s record to 15-3-2, while Seattle fell to 9-7-1.
Carolina built a 2-0 lead in the first period and never trailed. Nikolaj Ehlers opened the scoring at 11:44, and Aho tipped in a second goal just over a minute later. Juuso Valimaki added a third in the second period, and Aho’s second goal of the night in the third put the game away before Frederick Gaudreau scored Seattle’s lone goal at 13:15 of the third.
Key Moments: How The Hurricanes Pulled Away
Carolina’s first period set the tone. Ehlers beat Seattle goaltender Philipp Grubauer with a wrist shot at 11:44, assisted by K’Andre Miller and Logan Stankoven. Aho made it 2-0 just over a minute later, tipping in a shot with helpers from Jackson Blake and Ehlers.
Valimaki extended the lead to 3-0 at 9:34 of the second period with a snap shot off a Stankoven assist, Seattle’s only scoring period came in the third, when Gaudreau converted a Mackie Samoskevich feed at 13:15. By then Aho had already restored the three-goal cushion with a slap shot at 11:41, assisted by Miller and Andrei Svechnikov.
Carolina held a 30-13 shot advantage for the game despite being outhit 23-12 and out-blocked 20-10. The Hurricanes also won the special teams battle, going 1-for-3 on the power play while killing off all three of Seattle’s opportunities.
Top Performers
Aho finished with two goals and led all players with two points. Miller recorded two assists from the blue line in 22:48 of ice time. Carolina goaltender Brandon Bussi stopped 12 of 13 shots for a .923 save percentage in the win.
For Seattle, Gaudreau had the lone goal and three hits. Grubauer made 26 saves on 30 shots for a .867 save percentage in the loss. Samoskevich picked up the only assist on Seattle’s goal.
What It Means
The result keeps Carolina atop the Metropolitan Division with 32 points, three ahead of New Jersey. The Hurricanes have won their season series opener against Seattle 1-0, per the official data. Seattle remains fourth in the Pacific Division at 19 points, trailing Edmonton, Vegas and Anaheim.
The Hurricanes’ penalty kill, perfect on three Seattle chances, helped offset a lopsided faceoff and hit count that favored Seattle.
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