The Carolina Hurricanes dominated the Buffalo Sabres Saturday night and while every player on the Canes pretty much had a great game, one player stood above the rest.
With a two-goal performance, Sebastian Aho was my Player of the Game.
Aho was a force all night against the Sabres, outchancing Buffalo 23-9 while he was on the ice.
"He was good," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "He was the difference. That line was good, he was real special tonight. Had the chance to get the third one, that would have been nice, but he was good."
His first goal was a great sequence of plays, starting with a defensive zone faceoff win by Aho. Jaccob Slavin then sends a high-flip out of the zone, which Seth Jarvis corrals and dishes off to Aho streaking in, who just releases a laser of a shot.
Aho's second goal came just 13 seconds into Carolina's first power play as, again, Aho wins the draw and as the play develops, he finds himself with space in the slot and he ripped the feed from Andrei Svechnikov home.
The Finnish center had 10 shot attempts, six on goal, so nevermind a hat trick, Aho could of had six or seven goals Saturday night.
After goal number two, Aho had a chance off the rush by streaking down the wing, was about an inch wide wiring a shot from the top of the circle, had a partial breakaway, then had a full breakaway and then shot just high on a 2-on-1.
"Player's know when they have two, so... It's pretty much automatic that you try to get the third one, but obviously it didn't go in," Aho said. "But overall, I thought we played a solid game as a line for sure. Tried to go for the hatty, but it was a good performance."
The Hurricanes' 1C has been heating up as of late and currently leads the team in points with 22 and is just three goals off the team lead (11).
It's looking like he's starting to reach another level this year, which bodes well for Carolina.
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