Aho has five points, Hurricanes send Wild to first loss in six games

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Sebastian Aho had a hat trick and an NHL career-high five points, and the Carolina Hurricanes ended the Minnesota Wild's five-game winning streak with a 6-2 victory at PNC Arena on Saturday.

Teuvo Teravainen had three assists, and Petr Mrazek made 22 saves for the Hurricanes (18-11-1), who have won two in a row.
"The two of them have always had some chemistry together," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said of Aho and Teravainen, "but when they're engaged like that, playing well away from the puck, then they're a real special group because they create more chances."
WATCH: [All Wild vs. Hurricanes highlights]
Ryan Donato and Mats Zuccarello scored, and Alex Stalock made 34 saves for the Wild (14-12-4), who were 8-0-3 in their previous 11.
"Overall, our execution wasn't very good at all," Wild center Eric Staal said. "Credit them, they were quick and on us, but we just didn't make any passes. We were just not putting pucks on the tape and not making easy plays to each other."
Minnesota took a 1-0 lead at 2:21 of the first period. Marcus Foligno made a behind-the-back pass to Donato, who followed his shot from the slot and flipped in a loose puck.
Lucas Wallmark tied it 1-1 when he cut across the slot and took Ryan Dzingel's pass from the corner at 9:00.
"They had energy all night," Minnesota coach Bruce Boudreau said. "They were coming at us pretty good."

The Hurricanes took advantage of a 5-on-3 power play to take a 2-1 lead. Teravainen hit Andrei Svechnikov with a pass at the top of the crease for a redirection at 15:02.
"They were taking [Dougie Hamilton] away pretty good (at the left face-off circle), so I tried to find some guys around the net," Teravainen said.
Aho pushed the lead to 3-1 at 4:43 of the second period. He left a drop pass for Teravainen, drifted back into the right circle and one-timed the return pass.
"When you put one in the wheelhouse, that's the difference," Brind'Amour said. "The elite players pass it where it's a layup to crush it. That's basically what happened there. It's where the pass is."
Zuccarello cut it to 3-2 when he held the puck on a 2-on-1 and shot to the far post from the right face-off circle at 9:08.

Teravainen set up Aho in front of the net with a pass from the right boards for a power-play goal and a 4-2 lead at 15:15. It was the sixth time Teravainen has had three assists in a game.
"It just shows how smart he is and an unbelievable passer," Aho said. "We've been together so long now. It's pretty awesome to have him here. It's been my whole NHL career (four seasons) with him."
Joel Edmundson's shot from the left point gave Carolina a 5-2 lead at 12:24 of the third period.
Aho completed the hat trick with an empty-net goal with 1:21 remaining for the 6-2 final.

They said it

"It's unfortunate. We weren't very good tonight. We talked about playing a simple game, and we got caught into playing their kind of game, and they're a lot better at it than we are. You can tell me whatever you want about the 11 games (8-0-3), but in this league, you've got to be good every night. That's sort of unacceptable, the way we played, I think." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau
"I guess I try to score five points every night, but it's a little harder than that. You want to score a lot of points and produce for the team, but you don't think, I have to score a hat trick. But today was one of those days when I got all the bounces." -- Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho

Need to know

Zuccarello has 30 points (eight goals, 22 assists) in 33 games against the Hurricanes. … Mrazek got his NHL-leading 10th home win. … Aho is the seventh player in Carolina history to have a five-point game. Staal, who played for the Hurricanes from 2003-16, did it four times, and Brind'Amour (2000-10) did it once. … Teravainen had gone five games without a point.

What's next

Wild: Host the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; FS-N, FS-WI, PRIME, NHL.TV)
Hurricanes: At the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, FS-CR, NHL.TV)