With three goals and one assist, center Sebastian Aho led the Carolina Hurricanes to a 5-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Friday, Nov. 4 in PNC Arena. The night marked Carolina’s first win in regulation since Oct. 28.
After cementing the Canes’ (8-2-1) barn-burning win down in Tampa Bay the night prior, Aho spearheaded Carolina’s offensive effort against the Sabres (7-4-0). His fifth career hat trick wasn’t shocking given his extensive expertise, but it was a welcome sight nonetheless.
“What I see is just consistency with his play,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “Every night’s pretty much the same. Elite players — that’s how they go. Every night, they’re your top guy. You notice them and they’re impactful.”
Continuing his season-long hot streak, center Martin Nečas racked up three more points to push his current tally to 17 — the second-most of any Hurricanes player through the first 11 games.
Less than 24 hours after Aho scored the game-winning goal in Tampa Bay, Carolina’s sluggishness definitely showed on a whole across the first frame. That being said, the offensive line continued to push through, outshooting Buffalo 11-8 in the first 20 minutes.
Four goals in 14 minutes served to jolt both teams awake, but center Jesperi Kotkaniemi invigorated his squad by sending Buffalo left wing Rasmus Dahlin to the shadow realm in the midst of a brawl. Dahlin served a double minor and Kotkaniemi sat in the box for two minutes, but the damage was done. Although no blood was drawn, Kotkaniemi’s sucker-punch was textbook UFC on ice.
The game cooled down a bit after such an eventful opening period. Despite featuring the most shots on goal in any period, there was only one goal scored in the second frame. However, that lone second-period score impacted the game as much as any other effort as Nečas found the net to lift the Canes to 3-2 advantage at the 4:03 mark.
Nečas kickstarted the offense by generating a turnover in the Sabres’ zone, but Aho really made the highlight. The Finn picked up the puck in the corner and proceeded to put Buffalo through the spin cycle before ultimately dishing it to Nečas in the slot who fired it home.
The Canes carried a one-goal lead into the third period, but Buffalo kept hanging around as time wound down. Luckily for Canes fans, Kotkaniemi picked an opportune time to find twine for the first time this season, padding Carolina’s lead with under 11 minutes left to play.
A slick assist by Nečas teed up Kotkaniemi to fire into the open net, which he happily did. As part of the Hurricanes’ absolutely surging second line, Kotkaniemi was relieved to finally put his name on the scoresheet.
“Our line’s been great,” Nečas said. “Even though KK wasn’t scoring before, he’s still played very very well. He’s a big key in our line and it’s good for him to score the goal here.”
The Canes’ special teams took care of business as well. Despite scoring just once out of four power plays, Carolina’s PP looked clean as a whistle as it passed the puck around and got consistent shots on net.
The penalty kill clamped down on the Sabres as well. Dahlin netted a lone power play goal just before time expired, but that garbage time goal was the only blemish on Carolina’s PK for the night.
“The power play for sure moved around,” Brind’Amour said. “Probably deserved to get a few more, so that was encouraging. The penalty kill was fine. We gave up that late one but the game’s over at that point.”
The Hurricanes will stay in Raleigh for a Sunday afternoon showdown against the Toronto Maple Leafs Nov. 6. Puck drops at 5 p.m.
