Sebastian Aho has earned a point

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RALEIGH , N.C. (AP) — in every game this season. So have the Carolina Hurricanes.It adds up to the best start since the team left Hartford.Aho had a goal and an assist, and the Hurricanes beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-3 on Tuesday night for their third straight win.Warren Foegele scored an important insurance goal in the third period, Andrei Svechnikov, Jordan Staal and Brett Pesce also scored and Teuvo Teravainen had two assists.“I think we’ve had a good start as a line,” Aho said.And as a team, too. They helped the Eastern Conference-leading Hurricanes improve to 3-0-1 — their most productive start since the move from Hartford in 1997 — under new coach and former team captain Rod Brind’Amour. They earned points in their first four games for the first time since 1994-95, when they were still the Whalers and opened 4-0-1.“It’s fun, right?” Foegele said. “High-scoring games, a bunch of young guys in here keeping it young, too. The group’s been good, and that’s what you want to see.”Sven Baertschi had two goals and an assist, and Bo Horvat scored on the power play for rebuilding Vancouver, which has lost the first two games of its six-game trip.Curtis McElhinney made 22 saves for the Hurricanes while Jacob Markstrom stopped 28 shots for the Canucks in a game in which the first seven goals were scored in the opening 23 minutes, 24 seconds and the defenses tightened up before Foegele scored with 6:12 left to restore Carolina’s two-goal advantage.“It’s always good to see when you have a lead and you continue to bring it to them ,” Staal said. “That’s kind of been the way we wanted to play.”Vancouver has been outscored 12-7 during its two-game losing streak.“If you score seven in two games, if you score seven in three games, I would like to get three wins,” Markstrom said. “We’ve got to be better goalies, better (defensemen), better everything, better defense, and we get our goals but right now, today, I was not good. It’s frustrating.”Aho, who has points in all four games, put Carolina up 3-1 after taking a slick touch pass from Ferland and beating Markstrom from close range with 2:09 left in the first.“The usual — he creates some space and makes a play, and makes a really nice pass to me,” Aho said of Ferland. “I think I had a pretty easy shot to put the puck in.”After Horvat pulled the Canucks within a goal in the opening minute of the second period , Svechnikov restored the two-goal lead when he crashed the net and stuffed in a rebound — giving the rookie points in three of his four career games.Baertschi’s first goal tied it at 1 at 6:12 after a long pass from Alexander Edler set up a partial breakaway chance. His second came on the power play at 3:24 of the second and pulled the Canucks to 4-3, capping a furious stretch in which the teams combined for three goals in a span of 2:38.NOTES: Vancouver rookie C Elias Pettersson, who assisted on Baertschi’s second goal, has six points in his first three games. … D Haydn Fleury was in the Carolina lineup for the first time after he was a healthy scratch in each of first three games. Trevor van Riemsdyk was scratched instead. … LW Tim Schaller and D Ben Hutton made their season debuts for Vancouver.UP NEXTCanucks: Continue their six-game road swing Thursday night at Tampa Bay.Hurricanes: Begin a three-game road trip Saturday night at Minnesota. LAS VEGAS (AP) NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman shares the sports world’s amazement at the Vegas Golden Knights‘ ability to reach the Stanley Cup Final in their first year of existence.But if the league adds another team in Seattle in the near future, Bettman expects it to have every opportunity to accomplish the same feat under the same favorable expansion terms given to Vegas.The commissioner also acknowledged that the Emerald City could secure that expansion team within the year.The Golden Knights are hosting the Washington Capitals after winning the Western Conference in an inaugural season that ”quite simply astonished the sporting world,” Bettman said in his usual state-of-the-league remarks before the Final opened on Monday night.Sour grapes were understandable among the fans of other NHL teams after Vegas’ incredible ascent to the top of a league with 12 other teams that have never won the Stanley Cup and seven more that haven’t won it in the last 20 years.The Golden Knights cleverly built this winner with an undeniably generous expansion draft that allowed them to select the likes of franchise goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and many other proven NHL players. Yet Bettman said he has received ”no pushback whatsoever” about the favorable expansion draft from the league’s other 30 owners”I think people (around hockey) are excited,” Bettman said. ”I think it’s gotten their attention.”Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly both confirmed the NHL plans to keep the same rules on the next expansion draft. If it happens within the next two years, as increasingly expected, Vegas won’t have to lose any of its players, Daly added.The vote on adding a Seattle franchise won’t happen in June when the board of governors meets during the league’s annual awards show in Las Vegas, Bettman said. But the board will get an update on Seattle’s plans, and a formal vote could happen later this year, perhaps at meetings in September or December.”There is a lot of due diligence that has to be done, a lot of interaction with the prospective ownership group ,” Bettman said of the group headed by billionaire investment banker David Bonderman. ”We think we’re on target, and depending on how everything goes, it wouldn’t surprise me that there is a possibility that in the fall, early winter at the latest, that this could be addressed by the board. But we’re not there yet, and there is still work to be done.”Seattle hopes to be ready to become the NHL’s 32nd franchise in 2020, pending a $600 million renovation of Key Arena. But after the energizing effect of the Golden Knights on this hockey season, the league’s appetite for expansion – and the likely $650 million fee that will be split among the league’s other owners – has been whetted.The NHL also has talked about adding a franchise in Houston, the largest metropolitan area in the U.S. or Canada without a team. Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta has showed interest in joining the league, but a bid likely is years away.”I don’t think at this point in time there’s interest in filing for an expansion franchise,” Daly said. ”I think they’re relatively new NBA owners. They’re getting their feet under them in terms of operating that franchise, knowing that that means. At some point in time, we’ll have a discussion with them about whether there’s an NHL team to pursue.”—More Stanley Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/StanleyCupFinals