RALEIGH, N.C. _ Sebastian Aho is 19 and looks younger, but his hockey game is more than mature.
The Carolina Hurricanes' rookie forward scored his first career hat trick Tuesday and added an assist as the Canes ended a five-game losing streak with a 5-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at PNC Arena.
Aho, who plays with speed, skill and savvy, became the first Hurricanes rookie to score three goals in a game since Erik Cole on Dec. 21, 2001 _ coincidentally, Cole was at the Canes practice Monday afternoon.
Jeff Skinner and Justin Faulk, fresh off his All-Star appearance in Los Angeles, also scored for the Canes (22-20-7). That made for a fairly easy night for goalie Cam Ward, who faced just six shots in the first two periods.
The Canes were shut out in their last game, losing 3-0 to the Los Angeles Kings last week before the three-day NHL All-Star break. They also were outscored 23-5 in the five regulation losses, leading Canes coach Bill Peters to make some line changes for Tuesday's game _ for the "reset," as Peters called it.
There also was the matter of moving closer to the Flyers, who held the second and last wild-card playoff spot in the Easter Conference before Tuesday's games. Carolina trailed the Flyers by seven points, and with four teams separating the Canes and the Flyers.
But the Canes played with good pace and energy, taking the lead and adding to it. Carolina limited the Flyers, who won three straight before the break, to four shots in the first period and two in the second before Brayden Schenn scored a power-play goal midway through the third.
Aho, playing on a line with Jordan Staal and Elias Lindholm, scored his first goal at 7:11 of the first period. Jumping over the boards on a line change, the Finn went straight to the net, took a pass from Staal and went backhand to forehand to beat Flyers goalie Steve Mason.
His second of the period came after Aho forced a turnover near the Flyers blue line. Taking a pass from Lindholm, he ripped a shot form the right circle.
Aho, a second-round draft pick by Carolina in 2015, had the hats flying in the second after Skinner scored his first goal in seven games and 18th of the season.
With the Canes on their fourth power play of the period, Aho went top-shelf on Mason off a pass from Lindholm, who had two assists. Just like that Aho, who did not score in the first 13 games of the season, had his 15th and Carolina its first power-play goal at home since Dec. 16 against Washington.
Skinner's goal came after the winger, playing on a line with Derek Ryan and Lee Stempniak, drove the net. Skinner was denied on the power move, but Stempniak kept the puck alive behind the net and made a nice setup pass to Skinner in the left circle.
Skinner did not have a shot on goal against the Kings _ a first for him this season. The winger also had a long chat on the ice with Peters after Tuesday's morning skate.
Skinner's goal came after Peters used his timeout after an icing call against Carolina.
Ward didn't have a lot of work the first two periods but made some timely saves in winning his 19th game of the season. He made a hustling pad stop on a Michael Raffl shot when the Canes led 1-0, then a glove save on a sharp Andrew MacDonald shot with 13 seconds left in the first.
Aho's third goal and Faulk's score both came on power plays _ Faulk's with a 5-on-3 advantage. The defenseman has 10 goals this season.
Carolina had not had two power-play scores in a game since Dec. 13 against Vancouver.
