Hurricanes’ Sebastian Aho celebrates arrival of baby during extended break in Stanley Cup Playoffs

MORRISVILLE, N.C. (AP) — The timing of an extended break before starting the next round of the playoffs proved perfect for Carolina Hurricanes star Sebastian Aho.

Aho is a first-time father now after his wife, Rosa, welcomed a daughter on Friday while the team had spent nearly a week practicing, resting and recovering ahead of a second-round series against the Washington Capitals. That offered more time for the 27-year-old Aho to savor a life-changing moment.

“Yeah, feels unreal,” Aho said Monday, the day before Game 1 of the series against the Caps. “Obviously I’m so happy that I got to be there and timing-wise it worked out. Both mom and baby are happy and healthy. She did an amazing job and I’m really, really proud of her.”

It was the highlight on what had already been a big week for Aho, who was away from the Hurricanes for a personal day Friday. Roughly two days earlier, Carolina’s top-line center scored twice on the power play, including the series-clincher in double overtime, as the Hurricanes eliminated the New Jersey Devils in five games.

Carolina was the first team to clinch a second-round ticket, followed by Washington (also in five games) a day later. But the start of that series was on hold while the rest of the first round worked its way through to a pair of Game 7 finales out west.

That allowed Aho plenty of time at home at a special moment, though both his and his wife’s mothers are now in town to help with the Hurricanes returning for action.

“Guys with kids here, they all said, ‘Your life’s going to change,’” Aho said. “And for sure it did. Obviously you hold your baby the first time, it’s the best feeling in the world.”

It marked the second first-baby arrival for the Carolina locker room in this postseason; forward Eric Robinson and wife Alli had a daughter during the first-round series, prompting Robinson to tell The News & Observer of Raleigh at the time: “Holding her and staring at her all day, just kind of smiling. It’s been awesome.”

“We are a big family in there,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said Monday. “But it does remind you that life moves quickly. I think we do a pretty good job of that: we try to stay in the moment and enjoy every day, because they go by quick.”

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