The two teams' difference in the standings, and the game's final result, belied how close Saturday's tilt between the Hurricanes and Islanders was for most of its runtime. Things were knotted at two goals apiece until the closing minutes of the second period, at which point Sebastian Aho took over, at the expense of Sebastian Aho.
Sebastian Aho (Carolina center; 25 years old; Finnish) broke the tie with a nice give-and-go with Teuvo Teravainen, but wouldn't have beaten Ilya Sorokin so badly if the puck hadn't deflected off the skate of Sebastian Aho (New York defenseman; 26 years old; Swedish).
Sebastian Aho just scored on a deflection off of the other Sebastian Aho 🤯 pic.twitter.com/6jDXAkJYFU
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) January 22, 2023
The Aho-on-Aho violence continued in the third, as Sebastian Aho, trying to move the puck in his end, was cleanly picked off by a forechecking Sebastian Aho. Sebastian Aho would take full advantage of Sebastian Aho's mistake and pot the insurance goal.
Sebastian Aho gives the puck away to... SEBASTIAN AHO who scores 😂 pic.twitter.com/WzYPOs7XbO
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) January 22, 2023
Sebastian Aho would add an empty-netter for the second hat-trick of the season and sixth of his career. The first-place Canes will need him to keep up the scoring to make up for the loss, after just five games played, of Max Pacioretty, who just went on IR with a torn Achilles tendon, the same one he tore last season. The Isles, meanwhile, have won just one of their last nine games, and haven't scored a third-period goal in any of them, thereby putting undue pressure on Sebastian Aho.
Sebastian Aho would finish Saturday's game with a plus-3 in 15:29 of ice time, while Sebastian Aho was minus-3 in 19:55.
