Recap: Aho's Four-Point Night Pushes Canes To Fourth Straight Win

RALEIGH, NC. -Riding a four-point performance from Sebastian Aho, the Carolina Hurricanes won their fourth consecutive contest Friday with a 5-3 defeat of the Buffalo Sabres.

Different Day, Same Fishy

After

against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Sebastian Aho picked up right where he left off.
In an early 1-0 hole, Aho had no hesitation in putting home a feed from Teuvo Teravainen to even the contest.

After Buffalo reclaimed their lead fewer than two minutes later, it was once again #20 giving Carolina the equalizer.
Perhaps his most gorgeous effort of the night came in the assisting capacity though, utilizing a silky smooth spin move to evade two Buffalo defenders and put one right on the tape of Martin Necas.

The two-time All-Star then concluded his night with an empty net goal to earn his fifth career hat trick.

Necas' Nifty Start Continues

Carolina's dynamic winger only needed one point to move his already career-best point streak to six games, but he racked up three for good measure.
It was his second three-point game of the season, bringing his early season total to 17 through 11 games. Only Connor McDavid (24), Leon Draisaitl (22), David Pastrnak (19) and Erik Karlsson (18) have more points league-wide.
The 17 points through 11 games are also the second most in Hurricanes history, trailing only Eric Staal's 22-point start to the 2005-06 season.
His first assist also came on the power play, now giving him more power play points this season (5) than all of the 2021-22 campaign (4).

Getting KK Going

The start to the season for Necas and Andrei Svechnikov has been highly documented and tonight their center joined the party.
While both have been quick to say how well Jesperi Kotkaniemi has played despite the point production not reflecting it, #82 etched his first goal of the season in the third period. After winning an offensive zone faceoff, the puck bounced to each of his wingers before Kotkaniemi tapped one by Craig Anderson for his third point of the season.

They Said It

Rod Brind'Amouron the resiliency of his team after having played just 24 hours ago in Tampa before traveling back to play tonight...
"It was a tough game to play. They had us on the ropes early and we clearly were not ready to go at that pace, but we were able to regroup and play a pretty decent game."
Sebastian Ahotouching on his team "getting into the fight" after allowing the early goal...
"Obviously you want to start every game with the lead, but that's not how it works. Sometimes that's what you need. You have to build some guys up. [Martin Necas, Andrei Svechnikov and Jesperi Kotkaniemi] have been bailing us out all season, so it was nice to return the favor there. Then they got going later on. It felt like a big win."
Martin Necaswhen asked if he intends to continue his high-scoring pace all year...
"I hope so, that would be nice. It was just a good win for the boys today. Our line's been great. Even though [Jesperi Kotkaniemi] hadn't been scoring he's still played very well and he's been a big key to our line. We've just got to keep palying the same way."

Bonus Notes

• Sebastian Aho scored to record his 34th career multi-goal game and surpassed Sylvain Turgeon (33) for sole possession of seventh place on the Canes / Whalers' all-time list.
• Aho joins Andrei Svechnikov (10/20 at EDM: 3g) as the second Hurricanes player to score a hat trick in 2022-23, marking the first time in franchise history that Carolina has had two players score hat tricks in the first 11 games of a season.
• Antti Raanta backstopped the victory for Carolina, turning away 22 out of 25. He improves to 3-0-1 on the season.
• Teuvo Teravainen tallied two assists tonight, marking his first multi-point game of the season and ending a four-game scoring drought (10/28-11/3).

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What's Next?

The team is scheduled to have off on Saturday but will return to action on Sunday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Puck drop is set for 5 p.m. at PNC Arena.
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