A Finnish night with a Finnish script
Sebastian Aho was born and raised in Finland. On Thursday in Helsinki he gave the home crowd exactly what it came for, scoring twice as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Seattle Kraken 4-1 in the first of two NHL Global Series games in Finland.
The Kraken were listed as the home side. It made little difference. Carolina have now won seven of their last eight, while Seattle have dropped two straight.
The opening goal came with a side order of controversy. Nikolaj Ehlers fired a screened wrist shot from just inside the blue line with 8:16 left in the first period, and Seattle coach Lane Lambert challenged for goaltender interference. The goal stood, and the failed review cost the Kraken a delay-of-game minor. Carolina needed 66 seconds of that power play: Aho redirected a Jackson Blake feed on the rush to make it 2-0 with 7:10 remaining in the period.
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Valimaki joins the party, Bussi barely tested
A second Finn got on the scoresheet 9:34 into the middle period. Logan Stankoven won a face-off back to defenseman Juuso Valimaki above the right circle, and his screened wrist shot flew over Philipp Grubauer’s left shoulder for 3-0.
Aho closed his evening with 8:19 to play, hammering a one-timer from the inside edge of the right circle. Frederick Gaudreau spoiled the shutout from the slot with 6:45 left, the only shot of Seattle’s 13 that beat Brandon Bussi, who finished with 12 saves. Grubauer made 26 at the other end.
Stankoven and K’Andre Miller each collected two assists. Ehlers ended with a goal and an assist.
Hall’s milestone, a first for the league
The result was not the only piece of history in the building. Taylor Hall played his 1,000th NHL game, and no player had ever reached that mark outside North America. Before puck drop, Hockey Hall of Famer Pekka Rinne handled the ceremonial face-off between Aho and Seattle’s Kaapo Kakko, another Finn.
The two teams meet again in Helsinki on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET, and Seattle have 48 hours to find an answer.
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