Hurricanes vs Kraken: Sebastian Aho Scores Twice in Helsinki Homecoming

Sebastian Aho waited 16 years for this one. He made it count.

Aho scored twice in front of his home country, and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Seattle Kraken 4-1 on Thursday at Veikkaus Arena in Helsinki, Finland, in the first game of the 2026 NHL Global Series. Hurricanes vs Kraken was supposed to be a homecoming party for the Finns on both benches. Carolina’s Finns did most of the celebrating.

Aho’s homecoming in Helsinki

The last time the Hurricanes played in Helsinki was 2010. Aho was in the stands that day as a 13-year-old, Axios Raleigh noted.

This time he was the show. His first goal was a power-play tip-in at 12:50 of the first period, set up by Jackson Blake and Nikolaj Ehlers, and it made it 2-0. His second came at 11:41 of the third off feeds from K’Andre Miller and Andrei Svechnikov.

Before the game, the NHL noted Aho needed one goal to tie Olli Jokinen’s 321 for fourth among Finnish-born players in league history, per NHL.com. He got two. That’s 12 goals on the season, and he passed Jokinen in his home country.

Aho came into the trip leading the defending Stanley Cup champions with 26 points in 19 games.

Valimaki joins the Finnish party

Ehlers opened the scoring at 11:44 of the first with a wrist shot. Then Juuso Valimaki, another Finn, made it 3-0 at 9:34 of the second, with Logan Stankoven picking up his second assist of the day.

Coach Rod Brind’Amour told Finnish media that Valimaki has played well early and stays in the lineup, according to NHL.com’s Finnish game-day blog.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Carolina’s third Finn, also played.

Kraken’s Finns came up empty

Seattle brought its own Finnish group in Kaapo Kakko, Jani Nyman and Ville Ottavainen. Kakko, from Turku, had organized team activities for the trip and arrived riding a three-game point streak.

None of them got on the board. The Kraken were outshot by a wide margin and didn’t score until Freddy Gaudreau broke up the shutout at 13:15 of the third, with Mackie Samoskevich assisting.

Philipp Grubauer started in goal for Seattle and allowed four goals. Brandon Bussi was sharp at the other end for Carolina, the same goalie who shut out Vegas in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final in June.

Seattle was also without Jared McCann, out with a lower-body injury.

Taylor Hall’s milestone night

There was another number on Carolina’s side. Taylor Hall’s first shift Thursday was the 1,000th game of his NHL career, as Cardiac Cane pointed out before puck drop. He hit it in Finland.

Game 2 is Saturday

The Hurricanes came to Finland 14-3-2 and atop the East. Seattle was 9-6-1. Carolina went 2-0 in Helsinki in 2010, and now it’s halfway to another sweep.

The rematch is Saturday, Nov. 14, at 1 p.m. ET, again at Veikkaus Arena, with Carolina as the designated home team this time.

Elsewhere in the NHL, the Lightning have shut down Nikita Kucherov trade talk. Out West, Connor Hellebuyck sat out his return to Winnipeg as the Jets beat the Devils.

Sources: ESPN box score, NHL.com, Axios Raleigh, Yahoo Sports, Cardiac Cane