Aho, Necas each has 3 points, Hurricanes defeat Coyotes

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Sebastian Aho had two goals and an assist, and Martin Necas had a goal and two assists for the Carolina Hurricanes in a 6-1 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Mullett Arena on Friday.

Shayne Gostisbehere, who was traded to Carolina by Arizona on Wednesday for a third-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, scored against his former team in his Hurricanes debut.
"It's a very close-knit group here, and they pulled me in and made me feel part of this, and that made it easier to go out and play," Gostisbehere said. "There's a lot of terminology I'm not familiar with, but everyone out there helped me out."
Brent Burns had four assists, Jaccob Slavin had a goal and an assist, Antti Raanta made 17 saves to improve to 13-0-2 since Nov. 26. for the Hurricanes (40-12-8), who are two points ahead of the New Jersey Devils for first place in the Metropolitan Division after the Devils lost 4-3 in a shootout at the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday.
Carolina lost its previous two games.
"Lose two games and there's teams behind you who are chasing you, you don't want to take too much pressure off [them]," Raanta said. "I thought we did a very good job today, the whole 60 minutes."

Lawson Crouse scored for the Coyotes (21-32-9), who lost their fourth in five games with a revamped lineup after trading five regulars since Tuesday. Karel Vejmelka made 36 saves.
"It was a tough day for us all," Crouse said. "Obviously a hard loss to a good team over there, and it didn't seem like a lot of fun."
Paul Stastny gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 2:20 of the first period, scoring undefended from the left hash marks off a pass from the far wall by Burns.
Aho's breakaway goal made it 2-0 at 8:37, and Slavin extended it to 3-0 at 5:43 of the second period with a one-timer set up by another Burns cross-ice pass.
"He's a special kind of player, forget the talent. It's just how he goes about his business," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said of Burns. "He's as professional as they come, takes care of himself and he's constantly trying to get better."

Crouse cut it to 3-1 at 10:41 with his 20th goal of the season, scoring from the top of the slot five seconds after an Arizona power play expired.
The Hurricanes, who didn't get a power play in a 3-2 loss to the Golden Knights on Wednesday, then scored on three consecutive power plays and ended 3-for-4 with the man advantage.
"Three out of four on the power play, it's just a game changer," Necas said. "It kills any momentum that they get against us."
Gostisbehere pushed it to 4-1 at 12:26 with a wrist shot from the left face-off circle.
Gostisbehere, who had 10 goals in 52 games with Arizona, joined Carolina earlier in the day and went through only a brief morning skate before playing.
Brind'Amour said it's evident Gostisbehere will be a major addition, especially on the power play.
"It was a tough situation, come in and play on a new team and then play your old team," Brind'Amour said. "But he looked really comfortable and didn't look like he was nervous or didn't know what he was doing. Obviously, you can see he's going to help us."

Aho's second goal made it 5-1 at 14:37 before Necas scored at 1:47 of the third period for the 6-1 final.
The Coyotes recalled four players from Tucson (American Hockey League) to field a lineup, with defenseman Michael Kesselring playing 16:04 in his NHL debut. The call-ups were necessitated after they dealt defensemen Jakob Chychrun,
Troy Stecher
and Gostisbehere, and forwards Nick Bjugstad and
Nick Ritchie
-- one-quarter of their roster.
"Obviously you've got to get a mental reset, it's been a busy week and I've lost a lot of good friends," Crouse said. "As difficult as it is with the lineup situation, we've got to find a way to put our best foot forward and compete every game or it's going to be long 20 games remaining."
NOTES: Burns (39 years, 359 days) is the fourth-oldest defenseman in NHL history with four assists in a game; Tim Horton (42 years, 3 days) is the oldest. … Carolina has won six of eight (6-2-0). … The Hurricanes are 13-2-2 in their past 17 road games. … Raanta is 6-1-0 in seven games against Arizona, the team he played for from 2017-21. … Necas has four goals in his past six games. … Coyotes forward Christian Fischer (illness) did not play. … Crouse scored 20 goals for the second consecutive season.