Sebastian Aho dominated the scoresheet and a relentless penalty kill stifled Philadelphia as Carolina ground out a gritty road victory to pick up their first win of the season.
The Carolina Hurricanes are finally in the win column, as the team pulled off a 3-2 overtime win on the road Saturday night against the Philadelphia Flyers.
The game was a lot closer than it should have been, as the Canes were up and down the better team, but sometimes you need to grind one out and that's what Carolina did.
Here are five takeaways from the win:
Stars Shine
Sebastian Aho led the way for the Hurricanes, with two goals and three points on the night.
The Finnish center has been dragging his team into the fight all year, with points on four of the team's five total goals, and he's been solid in every zone and in all situations.
You need your best players to be difference makers and Aho has certainly been that so far.
Linemate Andrei Svechnikov has continued to be a driving force too, picking up another two assists as well as providing the net-front screen on the game winner.
The pair combined for 10 of the team's 40 total shots on goal and even despite lacking a third top-end player on their line, they're doing their jobs.
Will Carrier Steps Up
While Aho and Svech might not have a top-end linemate currently with Seth Jarvis on the shelf, the one they had on Saturday was certainly no slouch.
Will Carrier got the bump up to the top line in place of Eric Robinson and immediately you could see the results.
His forecheck was a key in the Canes' first goal in the opening 10 seconds of the period and all night long he was forcing turnovers and feeding the stars.
The trio ended the night with a 16-4 edge in total 5v5 chances, with nine of those going down as scoring chances.
I was skeptical of the move coming into the game, but Carrier certainly proved me wrong and showed that he can bring some solid work to that line.
Special Teams
Both sides of the special teams coin were good for the Hurricanes, with the power play scoring twice and the penalty kill having a perfect outing.
The team went 2-for-4 on the man advantage and honestly could have grabbed a third if not for the strong play of Joseph Woll (and his goal posts).
Aho scored the team's first as Nikolaj Ehlers fed him in the bumper and then Shayne Gostisbehere's one-timer in overtime was the second, as he put home a Jackson Blake feed post and in.
The team has looked more and more comfortable on the power play each game and things look like they could really start rolling here.
And not to be overlooked, Carolina's shorthanded work was absolutely superb.
The Canes killed four penalties, including one in the final minute of regulation, which carried over into the overtime.
Pyotr Kochetkov and the pairing of Jalen Chatfield and Jaccob Slavin I felt were exceptionally strong while shorthanded and overall, the team allowed just two shots on goal in over six minutes of PK time.
Back To Their Identity
It was no secret that Carolina was far from happy with how their first two games went and especially so after Friday's game.
So it was good to see them actually getting back to looking like the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Canes absolutely dominated the Flyers, outshooting them 40-18 and outchancing them 64-31 at 5v5.
Every line had nearly double the amount of chances as the opponents they lined up against and the Flyers never really had any moments were they looked particularly dangerous outside of small spurts here and there.
The Hurricanes outclassed them in every facet and while the score might not reflect that, that's pretty much all thanks to Flyers netminder Joseph Woll, it's certainly comforting to know they're getting back to their game.
Pyotr Kochetkov Picks Up Long Awaited Win
It had been quite a long time since Pyotr Kochetkov suited up for an NHL game (Dec. 20, 2025 to be exact) and so it was good to see him able to pull out a win.
I thought the Russian netminder played a solid game, with only a few hiccups here and there.
The two goals against weren't necessarily on him, but he could have done a better job avoiding both had he covered a loose puck in the first period and then had he decided to not go for an aggressive poke check in the second.
However, he made the saves he needed to make and even showed his athleticism off for a few big ones throughout the game.
He didn't have to face a ton of volume, but he did his job and that's all Carolina needs.
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