The 2026 NHL Global Series finally brought the Carolina Hurricanes to Helsinki, and the first game delivered exactly the kind of night the Finnish players on the roster had been waiting for. Carolina beat the Seattle Kraken 4-1, and Sebastian Aho, Juuso Välimäki, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi all got their moment in front of family and friends in their home country.
Aho made the night feel especially complete. He scored twice, earned player of the game honors, and did it on a date that lined up neatly with his career timeline: 10 years to the day after his first NHL goal on Nov.
12, 2016. Even better for the storybook angle, Phillip Grubauer was in net for both of those goals.
Aho’s two-goal night pushed him to 322 career goals, moving him past Olli Jokinen for fourth all-time among Finnish goal scorers. It also tied Eric Staal for the second-most goals in franchise history.
Afterward, Aho admitted the setting hit differently.
“I obviously felt good. I was actually a little nervous before the game.
You hope to win that game for sure, that’s the main thing, but I’d be lying if I said that didn’t feel good. It was nice to score in that game, for sure.”
For the Hurricanes, the night also felt like a return to where Aho’s NHL journey started. Carolina drafted him in the second round in 2015, and head coach Rod Brind’Amour pointed back to the early days of Aho’s development when he arrived in the league.
“I’ve been fortunate to be with him since he came to the league. I remember his first practice and his development practice when he showed up.
I remember talking to some of the guys and saying, ‘I don’t know if he’s going to make it,’ just because he was just a kid. He was so little.
He just willed himself into becoming the player he is.
You knew (today) meant a lot to him. He doesn’t celebrate. You could see all week that we’ve been here; he’s just extremely happy, and he wanted to do what he did tonight, and that was great to see.”
Välimäki’s night carried a different kind of meaning. His path back to this stage has been long, with knee surgery, recovery, a trade, and time spent in the American Hockey League. He finally returned to an NHL lineup on Oct. 20 against the Vancouver Canucks, 632 days after his previous game, and now he had a chance to play one in Finland.
Before the trip, he talked about what it would mean.
“That would be pretty awesome. Once in a lifetime opportunity, I think.
It’s been a long time since a lot of people have seen me play live and all that. But you know, Finland loves hockey, so it’s going to be a pretty big deal back there.
It would just be cool to go into some spots that I know. You don’t get to go home ever during the season.
So I would definitely be excited about it, and hopefully, I’ll be there.”
He made the most of it. After firing pucks all night, Välimäki finally broke through in the second period for his third goal of the season.
It was a milestone on several fronts: he moved within two goals of a new career high, and he now has three goals in nine games. For a defenseman, that’s a sharp pace.
Brind’Amour was quick to credit what Välimäki has done since getting his chance.
“Really happy for him. We knew when we got him what he’d been going through with the injuries.
Even last year, he played all year in the minors. He played really well; we just didn’t have a spot.
This year, there was an opportunity, and he’s just taken it. He’s really endeared himself to the group, the coaching staff, and everything.
I think that was special for him to get that goal. He’s contributing, and he’s a big part of what we’re doing.”
Kotkaniemi didn’t record a point, but the night still meant plenty to him. Playing in Finland with family in the stands gave the evening a different feel, and he said hearing Aho introduced in the starting lineup added to it.
“It was awesome. Seeing all of my family there right away in the stands, it was pretty surreal.
I got pretty excited hearing Fishy in the starting lineup too. That’s a pretty cool moment, people finally seeing him here.
It was just a great night.”
The Hurricanes still have one more game in the two-game set, and the chance remains for all three Finnish players to score in their home country. After Thursday, they’re already two-thirds of the way there.
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