HELSINKI — Sebastian Aho scored twice in his native Finland as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Seattle Kraken 4-1 on Thursday to open their NHL Global Series matchup at Veikkaus Arena.

The victory improved Carolina to 15-3-2 and gave the Hurricanes seven wins in their past eight games, according to Associated Press reporting published by Sportsnet. Seattle fell to 9-7-1 in its first regular-season game outside North America.

Aho’s second goal was the 321st of his NHL career, tying Olli Jokinen for fourth among Finnish players. The Hurricanes’ Finnish scoring leader has three goals and seven points over his past three games.

Carolina took control with two first-period goals just one minute six seconds apart. Nikolaj Ehlers opened the scoring on a wrist shot from the blue line with 8:16 remaining in the period. Aho then converted on the power play after Jackson Blake fed him beside the net.

Fellow Finn Juuso Välimäki also scored for Carolina, while Aho made it 4-0 with a one-timer from the slot in the final period. Frederick Gaudreau supplied Seattle’s only goal, and Kraken goaltender Philipp Grubauer finished with 26 saves.

Ehlers added an assist to his goal. Logan Stankoven recorded two assists to extend his point streak to six games, while Blake’s assist stretched his career-best streak to 10.

The game also marked a milestone for Hurricanes winger Taylor Hall, who became the first player to make his 1,000th NHL appearance overseas. The 34-year-old is in his 17th season and has accumulated 305 goals and 488 assists for 793 points.

Carolina’s visit was its first return to the Helsinki arena in 16 years. Thursday’s matchup was the NHL’s 49th regular-season game outside North America, its 12th in Finland and its eighth in Helsinki. Only Stockholm and Prague have hosted more such games.

Seattle became the 27th active NHL franchise to play a regular-season game outside North America. The teams will complete their two-game Helsinki series on Saturday.

Sources