Finn Backstrom lets in four goals as Hurricanes beat Wild

By Philip O'Connor

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Finnish goaltender Niklas Backstrom conceded four goals in front of his hometown fans as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Minnesota Wild 4-3 in Helsinki on Thursday.

A sellout crowd of 14,000 saw the Wild's Guillaume Latendresse score the first goal of the NHL season after 3:33 following an assist by Finland's Mikko Koivu.

Brandon Sutter leveled from a powerplay goal with 10 seconds to go in the opening period.

Defenseman Anton Babchuk put the Hurricanes in front after 5:58 of the second, backhanding a rebound beyond Backstrom, but the Wild hit back through Matt Cullen.

Cullen turned villain when he joined Cam Barker in the sin bin for a slashing foul on Sutter and Jussi Jokinen exploited their absence, a deflected shot from 12 meters going in during the resulting five-on-three powerplay.

Sutter added his second goal to put the Hurricanes 4-2 up, getting his stick and maybe a skate to the rebound as Backstrom saved from Patrick Dwyer's initial shot.

Brent Burns then pulled one back for the Wild by notching a powerplay goal with 3:21 left in the game.

It was the first of six regular-season games to be played in Europe this week.

The San Jose Sharks also take on the Columbus Blue Jackets in Stockholm on Friday in the first of two games at the Ericsson Globe while the Boston Bruins and Phoenix Coyotes clash twice in Prague.

(Editing by Tony Jimenez)