Carolina Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho of Rauma, Finland registered his second National Hockey League Stanley Cup Playoff overtime winner. He accomplished the feat in a 5-4 Hurricanes overtime win over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday. The win was significant as the Hurricanes clinched the best out of seven Eastern Conference first round series four games to one. Carolina is the first team that has clinched a spot in the second round.
Inside Look at the Overtime Winner
Aho scored on the power-play as Devils center Dawson Mercer of Carbonear, Newfoundland was in the penalty box for four minutes for high-sticking Hurricanes centre Jesperi Kotkaniemi of Pori, Finland. Aho took a pass from defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere of Pembroke Pines, Florida and rifled a shot from the slot that beat Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom of Gavle, Sweden. Seth Jarvis of Winnipeg, Manitoba had the other assist.
The game was decided at 4:17 of double overtime. This was the second time in the series a game went into double overtime. In game three, Simon Nemec of Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia scored at 2:36 of double overtime with an unassisted marker in a 3-2 Devils win. This was the only win in the series for the Devils.
When was Aho’s first overtime winner?
Aho’s first Stanley Cup Playoff overtime winner came at 1:06 of game six of the first round of the 2021 NHL playoffs. Aho scored from defenseman Jaccob Slavin of Denver, Colorado in a 4-3 Hurricanes win over the Nashville Predators. Like Tuesday’s goal, Aho scored the series clinching goal in overtime as Carolina won the best out of seven series four games to two.
Who else contributed to the Hurricanes in game five?
Carolina actually got off to a tough start as they were down 3-0 before scoring five of the next six goals in the game. Aho also scored the game-tying goal from Jarvis and Gostisbehere on the power-play at 11:27 of the second period to tie the game at four. Jackson Blake of Fargo, North Dakota, Taylor Hall of Calgary, Alberta, and Andrei Svechnikov of Barnaul, Russia were the other three scorers for Carolina.
