Sebastian Aho Scores Twice in His Homeland as the Champion Hurricanes Beat the Kraken, 4-1, in Helsinki

Sebastian Aho has scored a lot of goals for the Carolina Hurricanes. The two he scored Thursday night in Helsinki will be hard to top.

Aho, who grew up in Rauma, Finland, scored twice in front of his countrymen, and the defending Stanley Cup champion Hurricanes beat the Seattle Kraken 4-1 at Veikkaus Arena in the opener of the NHL's two-game Global Series. A crowd of 12,523 watched the 49th NHL game played outside North America and the first in Helsinki since 2018, according to the Kraken.

Nikolaj Ehlers opened the scoring at 11:44 of the first period with a shot from the point through traffic, with Jackson Blake screening in front of the net. Seattle challenged the goal for goaltender interference, lost the challenge and was given a delay-of-game penalty. Aho made the Kraken pay 66 seconds later, redirecting a pass at the left post on the power play.

Juuso Välimäki, a native of Tampere, made it 3-0 at 9:34 of the second period, shooting quickly after Logan Stankoven won a faceoff back to him. According to the Hurricanes, it was only the second time Finnish teammates have both scored in a regular-season NHL game in Finland. The first came in 2024, when Florida's Anton Lundell and Aleksander Barkov did it.

Aho added his second goal at 11:41 of the third period, a one-timer set up by K'Andre Miller. Frederick Gaudreau ended the shutout bid at 13:15, his team-leading eighth goal of the season.

Carolina outshot Seattle 30-13. Brandon Bussi stopped 12 of 13 shots for his second straight win, and Philipp Grubauer made 26 saves for the Kraken.

The night came 10 years to the day after Aho's first NHL goal, which also came against Grubauer, on Nov. 12, 2016. His two goals gave him 322 for his career, tying Eric Staal for second in franchise history behind Ron Francis, and moved him past Olli Jokinen into fourth place among Finnish NHL goal scorers, the team said.

Coach Rod Brind'Amour said nobody missed what the night meant to his top center. "You knew it meant a lot to him," he said. Brind'Amour also credited Aho's work ethic, saying the Finn had willed himself into the player he is today.

Veteran Taylor Hall played his 1,000th NHL game, becoming the first player in league history to reach that mark outside North America. The Hurricanes noted that Hall's NHL debut came on Oct. 7, 2010, the same day Carolina first played a game in Finland.

For Välimäki, the goal capped a comeback of a different kind. Brind'Amour pointed to the defenseman's history of injuries and noted that he spent all of last season in the minors before earning his way back into the lineup. Teammate Jesperi Kotkaniemi described the sight of his family in the stands as surreal, the team reported.

Blake extended his point streak to 10 games, and Stankoven stretched his to six.

At 15-3-2, Carolina has won three straight and seven of its last eight. According to the team, that matches the 2020-21 Tampa Bay Lightning for the second-most wins by a reigning Stanley Cup champion through 20 games, behind only the 1929-30 Boston Bruins, who had 18.

Seattle fell to 9-7-1 and has lost three of its last four. Kraken coach Lane Lambert admitted his team did not stick to its game plan, said the club needs to be more certain before challenging a goal, and gave the opponent its due. "They're Stanley Cup champions for a reason," he said. Seattle's Finnish forward Kaapo Kakko, playing in front of family members, some of whom had never seen him play an NHL game in person, called the night special even if the result was not what the Kraken wanted.

Not everyone was dazzled by the performance. Commentator Adam Gold, quoted by Heavy, said there was nothing spectacular about Carolina's win.

Here is my take: that is exactly the point. Champions do not need to be spectacular every night. They need to be steady, disciplined and unselfish, and the Hurricanes were all three in Helsinki. They outshot their opponent better than two to one, scored on the power play, killed penalties and got goals from three different scorers, including a defenseman.

There was also something good for the game in a night like this one. Finnish children watched their heroes play at home. Families crossed oceans to sit in the stands. A veteran reached 1,000 games. A defenseman who spent last season in the minors scored two hours from his hometown. That is hockey at its best.

The teams meet again Saturday at 1 p.m. Eastern in the same arena before both clubs fly home.