Aho’s late goal lifts Hurricanes past Leafs

Sebastian Aho scored his teamleading 32nd goal of the season with 2:26 remaining to rescue the Carolina Hurricanes in a 5-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.

Aho’s goal came 32 seconds after Auston Matthews’ second goal for Toronto tied the game. Teuvo Teravainen added an empty-net goal.

“We found a way,” said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour, whose team was outshot for the first time in 14 games.

“The first two games we played that team, I thought we deserved much better. [This game] we didn’t deserve that, but sometimes it evens out.”

Brent Burns, Jordan Staal and Stefan Noesen also scored for Carolina, which won for the fourth time in its last eight games to maintain in first place in Metropolitan Division. Jesper Fast and Martin Necas both had two assists.

Pyotr Kochetkov made 41 saves for his first victory in his last three outings. The Hurricanes relied heavily on Kochetkov, who became just the second rookie in franchise history with 41 or more saves in a victory.

“They took over and we weren’t smart enough,” Aho said. “Kochie can’t stop all of them.”

Calle Jarnkrok had Toronto’s first goal. Matt Murray made 23 saves. Reilly Morgan provided two assists. Matthews has 36 goals this season, including eight in the last nine games.

Despite the outcome, it ranked high on a list of top performances for the Maple Leafs.

“I find it in a lot of ways to be our best game,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “The back half of the first period, much of the entire second and third period, I think that’s as good as we played all season.”