Three things to watch Tuesday as the Carolina Hurricanes face the Washington Capitals at the Verizon Center:
Sebastian Aho
A week before Christmas, Caps coach Barry Trotz was already talking about Aho and saying what an impressive rookie he was. He had that pegged right.
Aho on Monday was named the NHL’s first star of the week. Canes coach Bill Peters has said Aho no longer is any kind of secret, that NHL teams know of his game, his name.
While Aho had big games against Philadelphia and Edmonton last week — a hat trick against the Flyers, then the winning goal, again, against the Oilers — he was mostly silent Saturday against the New York Islanders and had a big penalty late in regulation.