RALEIGH N.C. — Martin Necas scored again, yet again, an event which has gone from man-bites-dog to dog-bites-man in a frighteningly short amount of time as he’s emerged as the Carolina Hurricanes’ leading scorer to open the season.
Still, even if there may be a new sheriff in town, the old sheriff isn’t quite ready to give up the badge.
As good as Necas has been, Sebastian Aho is right there with him, statistically and analytically. On the heels of his dipsy-doodle shootout winner Thursday night in Tampa that left Andrei Vasilevskiy flummoxed, the Hurricanes and Aho picked up where they left off against the Buffalo Sabres on Friday.
And with a short turnaround that left the Hurricanes on their heels to start against the rested and waiting Sabres, Aho took over and flipped the game around, turning an early deficit into an 5-3 win with the fifth hat trick of his NHL career — sealing the deal with an empty-netter after nearly doing it in the first period with a short-handed breakaway that Sabres goalie Craig Anderson was able to nip wide with the edge of his blocker.
Aho scored at even strength. Aho scored on the power play. Aho set up Necas for his seventh of the season. And Aho finished it off.
These are the circumstances when your best players have to be your best players, and Aho was all of that Friday night — no more so than on the play that created Necas’ goal. Aho did a 360 spin in tight quarters at the post, then fizzed a pass through a tangle of legs in the crease that left Necas an open net from the left circle.
Necas, this season, has not been inclined to miss in such moments.
It was a difficult start for the Hurricanes on Friday, with the Sabres flying early and in the lead only 28 seconds in when a Jaccob Slavin clearing attempt hit Brent Burns. Dylan Cozens went the other way behind the net and fed Jacob Bryson for his first goal of the season.
Aho had the answer with a tight angle shot, set up when the Buffalo defense collapsed on Teuvo Teravainen in the slot. When Victor Olofsson made it 2-1 with a shot that hit the bottom of Antti Raanta’s glove and trickled between his legs — Aho, in front of Raanta, tried to jump out of the way — Aho had the answer again, with a power-play tip in the slot.
His pass to Necas put the Hurricanes in the lead early in the second, and they held on from there. Raanta gave up two goals on the first five shots he faced, then stopped the next 18, with Rasmus Dahlin only scoring a consolation goal in the final tenth of a second. Necas even picked up another point on the fourth goal, Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s first of the season.
In the history of the franchise, only one player has had more points in the first 11 games of a season than Necas’ 17: That was Eric Staal. In 2006.
Aho and Necas. Necas and Aho. There’s a duality to their starts, both pushing their games to new levels to begin the season, even if they’re coming from different directions. Aho’s clearly a great player, and has been for some time, but he’s been indisputably among the NHL’s elite over the first month. And there’s no question the light has come on for Necas after an incredibly frustrating season that left his future with the Hurricanes in some doubt.
It’s probably unfair to expect Necas to sustain this pace, but of all the ways he could have gone in this very young season, this is the best-case scenario. His confidence is clearly there, his work over the offseason, mentally and physically, bearing fruit.
As for Aho, it’s more reasonable to think this is more of a trend than a fluke. At 25, if there was another step to his career, this is when he logically would take it.
But it’s a long season, and a lot of hockey left to be played, and only time will tell where they end up. At least on this night, they were right where the Hurricanes needed them to be.
