Carolina Hurricanes: Three takeaways from brutal loss to Pittsburgh

1. Where has Aho Gone?

Sebastian Aho has been a dominating force for the Hurricanes this season, solidifying himself as the Hurricanes number one center of the future. He is the Hurricanes’ first 80 point getter in quite some time. However, he hasn’t scored in three weeks. He hit the post last night and did participate in some fabulous chances against Philadelphia on Saturday, but he has not been the same player in a while.

It has been well documented on this site, as well as others, that Aho has not been himself lately.

This is the most important hockey Aho has played in his career and he likely has started to grip the stick a little tighter and get inside his own head. He has still been a presence on the ice. It hasn’t been much more than a lack of putting in goals, but that was a big part of his game. The importance of him to this team is obvious.

As mentioned, this team has lost four of six. Certainly, at least part of this is due to Aho’s lack of production.

If the Hurricanes are going to make the playoffs, all of a sudden this is a big if, we need Sebastian Aho to be Sebastian Aho. I know I still want him on the ice in crunch time and I trust RBA to make the personnel decisions he thinks are best, but we need Aho more than ever.

Part of it could be that he is no longer playing with Teuvo Teravainen. The two Finns played extremely well together this season and teamed up for a beautiful shorthanded chance on Saturday against Philadelphia. Since Teuvo has been paired with Andrei Svechnikov, Svech has been a much more frequent name on the scoresheet. Perhaps, that is because Teuvo does more than we think.

Regardless, we need to get things figured out for at least three games.