One of the highlights of the Carolina Hurricanes' 2026-27 campaign is their trip to Helsinki, Finland, in November. The Canes will face the Seattle Kraken on November 12 and 14 in Finland's capital, giving Sebastian Aho a chance to play in front of his home country for the first time with his NHL team. The Canes' star has accomplished quite a bit during his NHL career, so this will be a massive celebration.
Aho enters the season within striking distance of Eric Staal's record for the most goals by a Hurricane. The bouts in Finland will be the team's 20th and 21st games of the year, and Aho is 12 goals away from tying the record. While it seems unlikely that he'll have the opportunity to break it while abroad, especially with his recent goal totals, it would be quite the spectacle.
This will be the Hurricanes' first time playing outside of North America since 2010, when they opened their season with a pair against the Minnesota Wild. Those games also were played in Finland as part of the NHL's 2010 Premiere Games. However, it wasn't their only game in Europe. The team made a stop in Russia for a preseason tilt, and that's where our story begins.
Fists flew when the Hurricanes battled in St. Petersburg
The Canes and the Wild weren't the only NHL teams participating in the 2010 Premiere Games. It was one of three sets played across the continent, with San Jose and Columbus playing in Sweden and Boston and Phoenix battling in the Czech Republic. Beforehand, they each also played games against European teams. The other five won their games. The Canes did not.
In international sports, a game between two clubs from a different league or two international teams is often referred to as a "friendly". There was nothing friendly about this contest between the Hurricanes and SKA St. Petersburg, a team featuring several players with NHL experience. They took aim at the Canes, leading to a chaotic contest.
SKA got out to a quick start, scoring in the first two minutes. Then, they added another in the dying seconds of the opening frame, doubling their lead after 20. Tuomo Ruutu and Patrick Dwyer scored 92 seconds apart to tie the game at two, but Alexei Yashin scored to restore SKA's lead. Late in the period, Jeff Skinner, days away from his NHL debut, scored to tie it once more.
Entering the third tied at three, tensions were already high. Eric Staal had been heavily targeted, leading Paul Maurice to keep his star on the bench for the entire frame. Tim Gleason and Jay Harrison each got into fights and were kicked out, Joni Pitkanen was also axed, and Joe Corvo left the game with an injury. With the Canes losing players left and right, SKA scored twice, winning the game 5-3.
Helsinki was much kinder to Carolina as they opened their season
With the preseason behind them, they looked ahead to the Wild in Helsinki. The Canes served as the road team for the first half of the back-to-back. Minnesota got on the board first, with Guillaume Latendresse getting an early goal. On the power play late in the first, Brandon Sutter was unmarked at the top of the crease for the easy finish with under ten seconds left, tying the game at one.
Anton Babchuk and Matt Cullen traded goals during the opening half of the second frame. From there, the Canes pushed ahead and wouldn't let their lead go. Jussi Jokinen's pass to the backdoor during a 5-on-3 was redirected off a Minnesota stick to beat Niklas Backstrom. Sutter doubled up in the final minutes, following Patrick Dwyer's shot for an easy rebound goal and extending the lead.
The Canes' two-goal lead stuck for most of the third period. Brent Burns, during what would be his final season in Minnesota, scored on the power play with 3:21 left in the game to cut the Canes' lead to one, but it wouldn't be enough. Backed by Sutter's pair of goals and 26 stops by Cam Ward, Carolina opened its season with a 4-3 victory.
Ward and Backstrom were back in the net for their respective teams the following day as the Canes went for the Helsinki sweep. Once again, the Wild got on the board first. Andrew Brunette scored on the power play late in the first period to break the ice. Tuomo Ruutu got it back two minutes into the second period. With the secondary helper, Jeff Skinner earned his first NHL point.
The goalies stood on their heads the rest of the way, keeping the game tied at one after 65 minutes. The Canes opted to shoot first in the shootout, sending their rookie out for the first shot. Skinner fooled Backstrom and buried his shot past his blocker. It was the only goal of the shootout. Ward backed his 41-save performance by stopping all three Minnesota shooters to win the contest, 2-1.
It was about as strong a start to the season as the Hurricanes could've asked for. Of course, it didn't end well, with the Canes falling two points shy of the playoffs on the final day. With the Canes returning to Finland in November, they're hoping to keep that feeling going, especially as Aho celebrates his homecoming. Without a doubt, the trip promises to be a fun one for the Canes.
Add us as a preferred source on Google