Aho's blast pushes Hurricanes past Devils 5-4 in double OT to advance in Stanley Cup Playoffs

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Rod Brind'Amour had just watched his Carolina Hurricanes skate through a debacle of a first period, putting them in a three-goal hole on a night they had a chance to advance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs on home ice.

So what was he hoping to see in the second period?

“Anything,” he said matter-of-factly.

He got it and more, all the way through to Sebastian Aho's ticket-punching goal that finally buried the New Jersey Devils.

Aho hammered a one-timer past Jacob Markstrom at 4:17 of the second overtime to help the Hurricanes beat the Devils 5-4 on Tuesday night to clinch their first-round playoff series in five games.

Aho's score off a feed from Shayne Gostisbehere came with the Hurricanes on a four-minute power play on a double-minor high-sticking penalty by Dawson Mercer that sent Jesperi Kotkaniemi skating off to the tunnel with a towel to his right eye. Aho provided the capper, the only lead Carolina would have in a wild game that pushed them into the second round.

“Unreal," Aho said. “Obviously you almost like black out for a second there. The crowd goes nuts, guys are jumping on you and it's unreal. Yeah, really good feeling.”

Carolina is the first team to advance to the second round, and next faces the winner of the Montreal-Washington series. The Capitals lead 3-1 in that one.

The Hurricanes are also the fourth team in league history to win a series in seven straight postseasons, first since the Montreal Canadiens went 10 straight from 1984-93.

The Devils skated out to a 3-0 lead in the opening 10 minutes, only to see Carolina erupt for four goals in a chaos-filled second period to level the game. But things settled down into a tough grinding finish for the third period and extra periods, capped ultimately by Aho's second goal on the power play on the night.

Aho also had the goal that tied it 4-4 with 8:33 left in the second period with the Hurricanes holding a two-man advantage.

Taylor Hall, Jackson Blake and Andrei Svechnikov also scored for Carolina, which is one of four teams in the playoffs for at least seven straight years. But the Hurricanes are the only one of that group to win at least one postseason series each time.

“Proud of the group for digging in,” Brind’Amour said. “I think it could’ve been easy to go, ’Well, it’s 3-nothing, we’ve got two more games we could play (to advance). But they didn’t.”

“That's just not the way we are,” said the 21-year-old Blake, who squeezed one shot between the left post and Markstrom's right shoulder for his first career playoff goal. “I think it's really cool the way we won tonight, so it was awesome.”

It also marked the second time in three seasons that the Hurricanes had eliminated the Devils in a five-game series that ended with a sudden-death goal in Raleigh. The other came in the second round in 2023.

The Hurricanes had won the first two games of this series at home, while the Devils punched through in two overtimes to win Game 3. But Carolina put New Jersey on the brink with Sunday’s Game 4 win after taking a 3-0 lead and losing starting goalie Frederik Andersen to an injury on a skating-in hit by Timo Meier.

The injury-riddled Devils gave Carolina fits on its home ice in Game 2 and again in Game 5, only to come up empty

“We played two pretty good road games in Games 2 and 5 here, so to not get one is tough," first-year Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said. “But I thought our guys gave everything they had. We were on fumes in overtime. But our guys just kept fighting, hanging on, Marky's battling. So there's lots to like about it.”

Mercer, Timo Meier and Stefan Noesen scored during New Jersey’s game-opening flurry, then Nico Hischier added a second-period goal for a 4-3 lead that provided a brief pause to Carolina's avalanche.

Markstrom regrouped from that rough second period to finish with 49 saves for the Devils, operating as a one-man survival raft in the first overtime as Carolina put shot after shot on the net with a chance to advance riding on each one — including Carolina’s Seth Jarvis ringing the left post with about 4 1/2 minutes left in the first OT.

Carolina finished with a 34-12 edge in shots after the second period to put Markstrom under constant duress. He made 38 consecutive saves between Aho’s tying and winning goals, the with the latter having him bang his stick to break it against the pipes and then the ice as Aho skated to the other end amid a roaring celebration.

“That first overtime, man, we were under siege," Keefe said. "And he was outstanding and gave us a chance to keep fighting.”

Pyotr Kochetkov finished with 31 saves in his first start of the postseason for Carolina.

AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/NHL

New Jersey Devils' Simon Nemec (17) watches the Carolina Hurricanes celebrate Sebastian Aho's game winning overtime goal during the second overtime period of Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

New Jersey Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom (25) has a shot by Carolina Hurricanes' Sebastian Aho (20) go wide of the net during the second period of Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

Carolina Hurricanes' William Carrier (28) tries to move the puck away from New Jersey Devils' Ondrej Palat (18) during the first overtime period of Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

Carolina Hurricanes' Sebastian Aho (20) celebrate his game-winning goal with Seth Jarvis (24) during the second overtime period of Game 5 of an NHL hockey first-round playoff series against the New Jersey Devils in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

New Jersey Devils react following their overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes during the second overtime period of Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

Carolina Hurricanes' Seth Jarvis, left, salutes the crowd from the celebration of Sebastian Aho's game-winning goal during the second overtime period of Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series against the New Jersey Devils in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

Carolina Hurricanes' Sebastian Aho (20) celebrates his game-winning goal with teammate Seth Jarvis (24) during the second overtime period of Game 5 of an NHL hockey first-round playoff series against the New Jersey Devils in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

New Jersey Devils' Nico Hischier (13) celebrates his goal against the Carolina Hurricanes during the second period of Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

New Jersey Devils' Brett Pesce (22) clears the puck away from Carolina Hurricanes' Jackson Blake (53) during the second period of Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

New Jersey Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom (25) watches a replay of a goal by the Carolina Hurricanes during the second period of Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

New Jersey Devils' Dawson Mercer (91) tries to settle the puck in front of Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov (52) during the third period of Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

New Jersey Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom (25) dives to stop the shot of Carolina Hurricanes' Jordan Martinook (48) during the third period of Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov (52) controls the puck in front of New Jersey Devils' Dawson Mercer (91) during the third period of Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

Carolina Hurricanes' Logan Stankoven (22) gathers in the puck around teammate Sean Walker (26) and in front of New Jersey Devils' Erik Haula (56) during the third period of Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sluggish December hiring concluded a year of weak employment gains that have frustrated job seekers even though layoffs and unemployment have remained low.

Employers added just 50,000 jobs last month, nearly unchanged from a downwardly revised figure of 56,000 in November, the Labor Department said Friday. The unemployment rate slipped to 4.4%, its first decline since June, from 4.5% in November, a figure also revised lower.

The data suggests that businesses are reluctant to add workers even as economic growth has picked up. Many companies hired aggressively after the pandemic and no longer need to fill more jobs. Others have held back due to widespread uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump’s shifting tariff policies, elevated inflation, and the spread of artificial intelligence, which could alter or even replace some jobs.

Still, economists were encouraged by the drop in the unemployment rate, which had risen in the previous four straight reports. It had also alarmed officials at the Federal Reserve, prompting three cuts to the central bank's key interest rate last year. The decline lowered the odds of another rate reduction in January, economists said.

“The labor market looks to have stabilized, but at a slower pace of employment growth,” Blerina Uruci, chief economist at T. Rowe Price, said. There is no urgency for the Fed to cut rates further, for now."

Some Federal Reserve officials are concerned that inflation remains above their target of 2% annual growth, and hasn't improved since 2024. They support keeping rates where they are to combat inflation. Others, however, are more worried that hiring has nearly ground to a halt and have supported lowering borrowing costs to spur spending and growth.

November's job gain was revised slightly lower, from 64,000 to 56,000, while October's now shows a much steeper drop, with a loss of 173,000 positions, down from previous estimates of a 105,000 decline. The government revises the jobs figures as it receives more survey responses from businesses.

The economy has now lost an average of 22,000 jobs a month in the past three months, the government said. A year ago, in December 2024, it had gained 209,000 a month. Most of those losses reflect the purge of government workers by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.

Nearly all the jobs added in December were in the health care and restaurant and hotel industries. Health care added 38,500 jobs, while restaurants and hotels gained 47,000. Governments — mostly at the state and local level — added 13,000.

Manufacturing, construction and retail companies all shed jobs. Retailers cut 25,000 positions, a sign that holiday hiring has been weaker than previous years. Manufacturers have shed jobs every month since April, when Trump announced sweeping tariffs intended to boost manufacturing.

Wall Street and Washington are looking closely at Friday's report as it's the first clean reading on the labor market in three months. The government didn’t issue a report in October because of the six-week government shutdown, and November’s data was distorted by the closure, which lasted until Nov. 12.

The hiring slowdown reflects more than just a reluctance by companies to add jobs. With an aging population and a sharp drop in immigration, the economy doesn't need to create as many jobs as it has in the past to keep the unemployment rate steady. As a result, a gain of 50,000 jobs is not as clear a sign of weakness as it would have been in previous years.

And layoffs are still low, a sign firms aren't rapidly cutting jobs, as typically happens in a recession. The “low-hire, low-fire” job market does mean current workers have some job security, though those without jobs can have a tougher time.

Ernesto Castro, 44, has applied for hundreds of jobs since leaving his last in May. Yet the Los Angeles resident has gotten just three initial interviews, and only one follow-up, after which he heard nothing.

With nearly a decade of experience providing customer support for software companies, Castro expected to find a new job pretty quickly as he did in 2024.

“I should be in a good position,” Castro said. “It’s been awful.”

He worries that more companies are turning to artificial intelligence to help clients learn to use new software. He hears ads from tech companies that urge companies to slash workers that provide the kind of services he has in his previous jobs. His contacts in the industry say that employees are increasingly reluctant to switch jobs amid all the uncertainty, which leaves fewer open jobs for others.

He is now looking into starting his own software company, and is also exploring project management roles.

December’s report caps a year of sluggish hiring, particularly after April's “liberation day” tariff announcement by Trump. The economy generated an average of 111,000 jobs a month in the first three months of 2025. But that pace dropped to just 11,000 in the three months ended in August, before rebounding slightly to 22,000 in November.

Last year, the economy gained just 584,000 jobs, sharply lower than that more than 2 million added in 2024. It's the smallest annual gain since the COVID-19 pandemic decimated the job market in 2020.

Subdued hiring underscores a key conundrum surrounding the economy as it enters 2026: Growth has picked up to healthy levels, yet hiring has weakened noticeably and the unemployment rate has increased in the last four jobs reports.

Most economists expect hiring will accelerate this year as growth remains solid, and Trump's tax cut legislation is expected to produce large tax refunds this spring. Yet economists acknowledge there are other possibilities: Weak job gains could drag down future growth. Or the economy could keep expanding at a healthy clip, while automation and the spread of artificial intelligence reduces the need for more jobs.

Productivity, or output per hour worked, a measure of worker efficiency, has improved in the past three years and jumped nearly 5% in the July-September quarter. That means companies can produce more without adding jobs. Over time, it should also boost worker pay.

Even with such sluggish job gains, the economy has continued to expand, with growth reaching a 4.3% annual rate in last year's July-September quarter, the best in two years. Strong consumer spending helped drive the gain. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta forecasts that growth could slow to a still-solid 2.7% in the final three months of last year.

FILE - A hiring sign is displayed at a grocery store in Northbrook, Ill., Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)