It was a successful homecoming for Sebastian Aho, Jusso Valimaki and Jesperi Kotkaniemi on Thursday, as the Hurricanes eased their way to a 4-1 win over the Seattle Kraken in the first of two games between the two clubs in Helsinki, Finland.
Aho scored twice, and Valimaki and Nikolaj Ehlers each added one of their own to give Carolina its 15th win of the season and extend its lead atop the Metropolitan Division to six points.
Ehlers broke the ice with his fifth of the season on a writer from the point
after K’Andre Miller circled the offensive zone and fed him a pass for his sixth assist of the year.
Jackson Blake was standing near goalie Phillip Grubauer in the crease, prompting a challenge from Kraken head coach Lane Lambert that failed to negate the goal.
That gave the Hurricanes a power play for the resulting delay of game power play, when Aho tapped home his 11th of the season off assists from Blake and Ehlers to give his team a 2-0 lead after the first period.
Valimaki struck next in the second period to extend the lead to three goals, marking his third tally of the year through eight appearances with his new team.
Carolina put on a defensive clinic through 40 minutes, scarcely allowing Seattle to threaten goaltender Brandon Bussi.
That was the case for much of the third period as well, as the Kraken didn’t generate much before Aho fired home his second of the night and 12th of the season to put the game well out of reach at 4-0.
Seattle was able to spoil Bussi’s bid for a shutout when Frederick Gaudreau got the puck in a dangerous era and made no mistake for his team-leading eighth tally of the year.
At 5-on-5, the Hurricanes generated 2.73 expected goals for while limiting the Kraken to just 1.21. Bussi turned aside 12 of 13 shots on goal for his fourth victory of the year.
The Hurricanes and Kraken will be back at it from Helsinki for a 1:00 PM Eastern puck drop on Saturday, as Carolina will look to become the first NHL team to earn four wins outside North America.
