The Carolina Hurricanes are headed back overseas this fall, and for Sebastian Aho, the trip to Helsinki should be a special one.
Carolina will face the Seattle Kraken on November 12 and 14 in Finland’s capital, giving Aho a chance to play in front of his home country for the first time with the Hurricanes. He enters the season 12 goals behind Eric Staal’s franchise mark for the most goals by a Hurricane, so the games in Finland will arrive with Aho sitting within striking distance of a major piece of team history.
For the Hurricanes, though, the bigger headline is simply getting back to Europe. This will be their first game outside North America since 2010, when they opened the season with a pair against the Minnesota Wild in Finland as part of the NHL’s 2010 Premiere Games. That trip included a preseason stop in Russia, and it turned into one of the strangest chapters in the franchise’s overseas history.
The preseason game in St. Petersburg was anything but routine.
Carolina met SKA St. Petersburg, a club with several players who had NHL experience, and the matchup quickly turned rough.
SKA scored in the first two minutes and added another in the final seconds of the opening period to go up 2-0. Tuomo Ruutu and Patrick Dwyer answered 92 seconds apart to tie it, but Alexei Yashin put SKA back in front before Jeff Skinner, just days from his NHL debut, tied it again late in the period.
The third period brought even more chaos. Eric Staal had been heavily targeted, and Paul Maurice kept him on the bench for the entire frame.
Tim Gleason and Jay Harrison both fought and were ejected, Joni Pitkanen was also tossed, and Joe Corvo exited with an injury. With Carolina losing bodies all over the ice, SKA pulled away and won 5-3.
Helsinki went much better once the season actually began.
In the opener against Minnesota, Guillaume Latendresse scored first for the Wild, but Brandon Sutter tied it late in the first period on the power play. Anton Babchuk and Matt Cullen traded goals in the second, and then Carolina grabbed control.
Jussi Jokinen’s pass to the back door during a 5-on-3 deflected off a Minnesota stick and in, and Sutter added another in the final minutes by following Patrick Dwyer’s shot for a rebound finish. Brent Burns scored on the power play with 3:21 left to make things interesting, but Cam Ward’s 26 saves helped Carolina hold on for a 4-3 win.
The next day brought another tight one, and another strong showing from Ward. Minnesota scored first again, with Andrew Brunette converting on the power play late in the first.
Tuomo Ruutu responded two minutes into the second, and with the secondary assist, Jeff Skinner picked up his first NHL point. From there, both goalies took over.
The game stayed tied through 65 minutes, and Carolina chose to shoot first in the shootout. Skinner went first and beat Niklas Backstrom, and that was the only goal of the shootout.
Ward stopped all three Minnesota shooters, finishing with 41 saves in a 2-1 Hurricanes win.
That trip gave Carolina a strong opening to the season, even if the year itself ended with the Hurricanes missing the playoffs by two points on the final day. Now they’re back on the international stage, with Aho’s homecoming adding another layer to a trip that already stands out on the schedule.
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