Sebastian Aholta's blunt words about Carolina's wild playoff vibe: "It's kind of irrelevant"

The NHL Stanley Cup finals will start in the early hours of Wednesday, Finnish time. The Carolina Hurricanes and Vegas Golden Knights will begin the series in Raleigh.

Carolina was last seen in the finals in 2006, when they also won the Stanley Cup. Vegas, on the other hand, claimed the championship three years ago.

Carolina has had strong regular seasons in recent years, but their journey has always ended at the latest in the conference finals. Now the team has finally made it to the Stanley Cup finals, which their Finnish star Sebastian Aho was naturally excited about during the finals media day.

– We have been building towards this for a long time. This core group has had its ups and downs, but now we finally get this opportunity. It’s really exciting, and we are going to give our best there, Aho enthused.

Carolina has advanced to the finals losing only one game during the playoffs. They defeated the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers in straight four games and the Montreal Canadiens with a series score of 4-1. Although the record is impressive, Aho reminds that the team has not had an easy path in the playoffs.

– This is never easy. There are no easy games or shifts. It always requires hard work. Our results so far don’t mean much to me. What matters is that we are here now and get to play for the Stanley Cup. It’s somewhat irrelevant what the stats are right now, as everything starts over again, and we are ready for the first game.

– Getting to the finals shows that a lot of right things have been done. To even play here, you must have had a good season, right? But at the same time, the job is not done yet. We know that the things that happened in the past won’t really help us from tomorrow onwards. So tomorrow we have to put in all that work again, Aho stated.

In addition to Aho, Carolina is represented by Finnish player Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who has not received any responsibility in the playoffs. There are no Finnish players in Vegas.