Finnish native Aho scores twice as first-place Hurricanes top Kraken 4-1 in Helsinki

HELSINKI (AP) — Sebastian Aho scored twice in front of the home crowd and the Carolina Hurricanes opened the NHL’s Global Series in the Finnish capital with a 4-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Thursday.

Left winger Taylor Hall celebrated his 1,000th NHL game in the reigning Stanley Cup champions' victorious return to Helsinki’s Veikkaus Arena after 16 years.

Carolina's Brandon Bussi stopped 12 shots.

Nikolaj Ehlers had a goal and an assist, and Aho's fellow Finn, defenseman Juuso Välimäki, also scored for the Hurricanes (15-3-2) who have won seven of their last eight games.

Logan Stankoven had two assists to extend his point streak to six and Jackson Blake got one to improve his career-high point streak to 10.

The dominant Hurricanes jumped to a 2-0 with the goals coming just 1:06 apart in the opening period.

Ehlers put them 1-0 up with 8:16 remaining with a wrist shot from the blue line. Home crowd hero Aho doubled the advantage on a power play moments later after he was fed at the side of the net by Blake. He made it 4-0 on a one-timer from the slot in the final period.

The Finnish scoring leader for the Hurricanes has three goals and seven points in the last three games. With his 321st career goal, Aho tied Olli Jokinen for the fourth place among Finnish players in NHL history.

Frederick Gaudreau scored the lone goal for Seattle (9-7-1) and Philipp Grubauer finished with 26 saves.

The 34-year-old Hall became the first player to skate his 1,000th game overseas. In his 17th NHL season, Hall has 305 goals and 488 assists for a total of 793 points.

The NHL has played games on the European continent as part of its efforts to grow the fan base in hockey-mad countries like Finland, Sweden and the Czech Republic. Thursday's game was the 49th regular-season game outside North America, 12th in Finland and eighth in Helsinki. Only Stockholm and Prague have hosted more.

It was the first regular-season game outside North America for the Kraken, who became the 27th active franchise to do so.

The Hurricanes and Kraken will complete their two-game series in Helsinki on Saturday.

See AP’s full NHL coverage here

Carolina Hurricanes goalkeeper Brandon Bussi and Seattle Kraken's Jordan Eberle follow the action during an NHL hockey game in Helsinki, Finland, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (Antti Aimo-Koivisto/Lehtikuva via AP)

Carolina Hurricanes' Juuso Välimäki, second from right, celebrates with, from left, Logan Stankoven, Nikolaj Ehlers and Shayne Gostisbehere after scoring the team's third goal against the Seattle Kraken during an NHL hockey game in Helsinki, Finland, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (Antti Aimo-Koivisto/Lehtikuva via AP)

Carolina Hurricanes' Shayne Gostisbehere (4) the defends against Seattle Kraken's Kaapo Kakko (84) during an NHL hockey game in Helsinki, Finland, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (Antti Aimo-Koivisto/Lehtikuva via AP)

Seattle Kraken's Ben Meyers, right, falls to the ice as he battles for the puck with Carolina Hurricanes' Juuso Välimäki during an NHL hockey game in Helsinki, Finland, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (Antti Aimo-Koivisto/Lehtikuva via AP)

Carolina Hurricanes' Sebastian Aho, left, celebrates at the bench with teammates after scoring the team's second goal against the Seattle Kraken during an NHL hockey game in Helsinki, Finland, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (Antti Aimo-Koivisto/Lehtikuva via AP)

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Thursday denounced widespread “machismo” and violence against women in Peru, demanding that women be protected and respected as he set out marching orders for his beloved Peruvian church and people.

After his emotional homecoming Wednesday, the Peruvian pope got down to business and turned to the challenges facing a church and country he knows well.

He called on the influential Catholic hierarchy to be models of unity and communion, and instructed Peruvian bishops to accompany their flocks and respond to victims of clergy sexual abuse with truth and justice. He also met with six survivors, including from an abusive sect-like group that Pope Francis suppressed last year.

But the 71-year-old pope also showed himself to be positively overjoyed to be home and as relaxed as he has been in public since his 2025 election.

Leo sang along enthusiastically as 40,000 people in Lima's Plaza Mayor serenaded him with “Contigo Perú,” a famous song from Peru’s Pacific coast that celebrates national unity. He sang along later to another hymn, Alma Misionera (Missionary Soul), in Lima's stadium along with 30,000 young people during a vigil. He drew huge applause when he recited the lyrics of another famous Creole hymn, “Mi Perú.”

“It’s a blessing not only for us Chiclayans but for all of Peru,” said Ángel Esquives, a craftsman originally from Leo’s former diocese in Chiclayo who now lives in Lima. He said he left his home at 3 a.m. to go to the historic center and stand in line to get as close as possible to the pope.

Zozimo Perez came in a self-designed costume he named “the Inca Warrior,” with the pontiff’s image on his chest and back. He was in tears as he saw Leo stroll around the square. “This is a gift from heaven,” said Perez.

As he showed in the first two legs of his South American trip, Leo was in fine form despite having undergone lung cancer surgery last month. He bounded up a steep flight of stairs Thursday morning without any apparent problems and joked with the bishops that some “doubting Thomases” had predicted he wouldn’t be able to come.

“But God is great and his grace is bigger than all of us and I’m very happy to be here with you,” he said to applause.

In a speech to Peruvians in the plaza, Leo denounced the culture of “machismo” and violence against women that is prevalent in Peru, saying it went against the Christian teaching that proclaims men and women share equal dignity.

“It pains us to see that violence against women — who could be our grandmothers, mothers, sisters or daughters — continues to be a reality that wounds all of humanity," he said. He noted that poor, Indigenous and Afro-Peruvian women are doubly penalized, and called for all women to be valued, protected and respected.

Gender-based violence is an urgent social issue in Peru, which recorded 1,261 femicide victims between 2016 and 2024, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics. During that period, the number of women killed because of their gender rose by 44%, suggesting the problem is only getting worse.

“While we’ve made progress with women’s suffrage and in being heard more, femicides are still on the rise — or at least they’re receiving more attention,” said Nicole Cruz, who was in the Plaza Mayor for the pope’s speech Thursday.

Cruz said she hopes the pope’s words will help unite women and help “men understand that we’re not complaining, but that we want help and to be loved and heard.”

The former Robert Prevost spent two decades as a missionary priest and bishop in Peru and credits the place with teaching him how to be a shepherd. He in many ways has modeled his vocation as a bishop on the 16th century St. Turibius de Mogrovejo, the first archbishop of Lima.

Mogrovejo is revered for having traveled long distances to be with his flock and for having defended the rights of Indigenous and enslaved peoples. He studied Quechua and Aymara and oversaw the printing of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in these Indigenous languages, because he believed the faith had to be transmitted in a language people could understand.

Leo urged bishops on Thursday to model their vocation on his example. Being a bishop, he said, means “entering people’s homes, accompanying the sick, meeting young people and reaching out to communities which, due to their geographical remoteness or social vulnerability, are rarely able to make their voices heard.”

While the clergy sexual abuse scandal hasn’t exploded publicly in Peru as it has in other Latin American countries, Leo identified it as a “reality that has caused us so much pain.”

“We must respond as Jesus would, with truth, justice, forgiveness, making amends and an ever more resolute commitment to fostering a culture of prevention and protection for the weakest in light of such crimes,” Leo said.

He later put that into practice by meeting with six victims for an hour, listening to their stories and “reflecting with them on how to foster a change in mindset by listening to the victims, seeking the truth, pursuing paths to healing, and committing to creating safe environments,” the Vatican said.

Among the six were former members of the Peru-based Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a once-powerful movement.

Leo, who was the Peruvian bishops' point-person to welcome Sodalitium's victims while he was Chiclayo bishop, knows the case well.

In 2011, former members complained to the archdiocese in Peru’s capital, Lima, about abuses by its founder, Luis Figari. But neither the local church nor the Holy See took concrete action until one of the victims and a journalist, Pedro Salinas and Paola Ugaz, wrote a book in 2015.

After attempts at reform, Francis sent his two most trusted investigators to look into the Sodalitium abuse allegations. Their report uncovered “sadistic” sect-like abuses of power and spirituality, and financial abuses in administering church funds. Francis suppressed it shortly before he died, but it still wields economic power in Peru.

On Thursday, José Escardó, the Sodalitium's first whistleblower who wrote about the abuses he suffered in 2000, said the church's rhetoric has been empty when it comes to punishing clergymen who commit crimes.

Outside the house where Leo is staying, Escardó complained that Leo has not responded letters from victims for over a year. “These are not sins, they are not a mistake, that is an offense. These are crimes, and as such they must be punished,” Escardó said.

Beyond the Sodalitium case, the online database BishopAccountability has identified 77 priests, brothers, seminarians and laypeople consecrated in Peru who have been publicly accused of sexually abusing minors. But based on trends in other countries, the organization said that number is a “small fraction” of the total, arguing victims simply haven’t come forward yet in the overwhelmingly Catholic country where the church wields significant influence.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Faithful cheer as Pope Leo XIV delivers his speech during a meeting on the challenges and hopes for the future of the Peruvian people in the square outside Lima's cathedral, on the seventh day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

The faithful wait to greet Pope Leo XIV as he makes his way to the archbishop's residence in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Miguel Paredes)

The faithful pray in Plaza de Armas as they await Pope Leo XIV's arrival at the archbishop's residence in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Pope Leo XIV arrives for a meeting with the bishops of Peru at the chapel of the Archbishop's Residence in Lima, on the seventh day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV attends a meeting with the bishops of Peru at the chapel of the Archbishop's Residence in Lima, on the seventh day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (Yara Nardi, Pool via AP)

The faithful greet Pope Leo XIV as he arrives for a meeting with Peru's bishops at the archbishop's residence in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Pope Leo XIV attends a meeting with the bishops of Peru at the chapel of the Archbishop's Residence in Lima, on the seventh day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (Yara Nardi, Pool via AP)