The Carolina Hurricanes’ Sebastian Aho tormented his New York Islanders’ namesake Saturday night, scoring the final three goals as the visiting Hurricanes earned a 5-2 victory in Elmont, N.Y.
The Hurricanes’ Aho snapped a tie with 3:20 left in the second. He put his stick down and got a piece of Teuvo Teravainen’s pass into the crease before the puck glanced off the stick of the Islanders’ Aho.
The Hurricanes’ Aho scored his second goal 7:09 into the third, when he picked off a pass by the Islanders’ Aho deep in the New York zone and shuffled the puck before beating Ilya Sorokin with a shot into the far side of the net.
Aho finished off his sixth career hat trick by scoring an empty-netter with 21.5 seconds left.
The Ahos are not related.
Jordan Staal and Jesper Fast scored in the first four minutes of the game for the Hurricanes, who have won four of five (4-0-1) after a four-game losing streak. Goalie Frederik Andersen made 26 saves.
Simon Holmstrom and Brock Nelson scored in the second period for the skidding Islanders, who have lost eight of nine (1-5-3). Sorokin recorded 21 saves.
The Hurricanes opened the scoring just 44 seconds after faceoff.
Sorokin deflected a shot by Brent Burns and the puck caromed to Jalen Chatfield, who was stationed just in front of the blue line. With five players in the shooting lane, Chatfield fired a shot that glanced off Staal’s stick and landed beyond Sorokin’s stick.
Staal helped double the lead at 3:52.
After picking off a clearing pass by Anthony Beauvillier in the Hurricanes’ zone, Staal chipped the puck ahead of Alexander Romanov and skated up the right side before passing across the crease to Fast, who beat a sprawling Sorokin.
The Islanders collected their goals in a 100-second span late in the period.
Holmstrom intercepted a Staal pass in front of Sorokin before taking a dish from Anders Lee in the neutral zone and sending a shot past Andersen’s blocker with 5:58 left.
Nelson tied the score with an impressive individual effort. After stealing the puck from Jesperi Kotkaniemi along the boards deep in the Hurricanes’ zone, Nelson directed the puck around Brett Pesce and skated around the net before his wraparound glanced off the stick of Teravainen.
–Field Level Media
