Karlsson's seemingly soaring above the ice anymore
Good Saturday evening!
• Erik Karlsson, he'll swear, isn't rising up to meet some mythical moment.
I asked him. And loved the response.
"This is that time of year," he'd tell me one-on-one after his two goals helped the Penguins finally put away the persistent Jets, 5-4, by finally prevailing in a shootout Saturday afternoon here at PPG Paints Arena. "You have to want this. Not everybody wants this. Not everybody stays the same. For me, this is fun. This is how it's supposed to be."
Mm-hm. That.
He's a future first-ballot Hall of Famer. He's won the Norris Trophy three times. He's won internationally. He was recently honored by the king and queen of Sweden as his nation's premier athlete.
So yeah, to him, this really is how it's supposed to be.
"I just have to play the way I need to play," he'd add. "That's what I'm doing right now."
Oh, my goodness, is he ever:
• Since Feb. 28, soon after the NHL resumed play following the Olympic break, he leads the entire NHL -- not just defensemen -- in scoring with 19 points on seven goals, 12 assists over 13 games.
• Five of those goals have come in the past three games alone.
• He has seven multiple-point outputs in the past 11 games.
In this one, after the Jets had scored twice to tie, 2-2, and had plainly taken control of the second period, Karlsson settled the scene by whipping a wrister past Connor Hellebuyck at 15:22, this after the latter had been bumped by a teammate.
And in the third, after the most awful version of Arturs Silovs had pretty much gifted the lead back to the Jets, it was Karlsson ensuring an extra session with this precise finish at 12:45:
Characteristically, he'd spread the credit.
"I think it was about our entire game," he'd say. "You need a lot of experience. I think we have a lot of that in this room. And even today, when at times we didn't play our best hockey, gave up a lot of chances, I felt like there wasn't any panic. We stuck with it. Trusted the process."
And fed the right point. Repeatedly.
"He’s taken it to another level. He really has.," Dan Muse would say, and wait a second before assuming he was contradicting Karlsson's above assessment. "It's been incredible watching it. And I’m not surprised by it. Obviously now, you get to this time of year, everything's elevated. And so, he's been great all year, and, when it's getting harder, it's getting tighter, and he's just finding a way to keep coming up with big plays, big defensive plays, big offensive plays, you name it. He's been unbelievable."
That's right. The defense, too. He's led the Penguins in all possession metrics over this same post-Olympic surge -- on the ice for a team-high 52.4% of all shot attempts at five-on-five, for example -- he's logged a team-high 26:24 of ice time per game, and he's been pivotal on both the power play and penalty-kill.
"There's not too many guys in the league who can do what he does," Bryan Rust would say. "He's been a catalyst for us, obviously, offensively, but he's making really good plays defensively too. He's a calming presence on the ice, on the bench too. When you get in these shaky situations, having a guy like that back there and seeing how well he's been playing, it makes a difference."
"He's doing so much for us," Rickard Rakell would essentially echo. "It's not just scoring goals. It's the way that he breaks out pucks, and keeping a close gap on their entries, and just dictating the game. And then, obviously, everybody knows his game, and when he's confident, he's one of the best defensemen in our league still. He shows that he can do it all."
Still.
Karlsson's spoken often of the difference Muse has made, never making it a secret that he didn't feel the same freedom to skate and create under Mike Sullivan. And he reiterated that for me here, as well.
"We have great players here," he'd say with a motion to the rest of the room. "You don't want to be locked in any way. Or in a straight line. You want your players to make plays."
None of which would be relevant, of course, if he couldn't still soar a foot above the rink. But he does, still registering the fastest clocked speed of anyone on the roster this season by NHL Edge analytics -- 27.23 mph, just a week ago in Salt Lake City -- and still showing some of the sport's most freakish side-to-side, backward and every other kind of skatework.
The man's 35 going on 25. And once again looking every bit the Norris candidate he ever was in Ottawa or San Jose.
"I'm just doing what I do," he'd respond with a shrug when I spoke exactly that to him. "What I want ... what we ALL want in here is to win. This wasn't our best game, but we feel like we've got a great team here. That's what motivates me."
THE ASYLUM
Karlsson's seemingly soaring above the ice anymore
Good Saturday evening!
• Erik Karlsson, he'll swear, isn't rising up to meet some mythical moment.
I asked him. And loved the response.
"This is that time of year," he'd tell me one-on-one after his two goals helped the Penguins finally put away the persistent Jets, 5-4, by finally prevailing in a shootout Saturday afternoon here at PPG Paints Arena. "You have to want this. Not everybody wants this. Not everybody stays the same. For me, this is fun. This is how it's supposed to be."
Mm-hm. That.
He's a future first-ballot Hall of Famer. He's won the Norris Trophy three times. He's won internationally. He was recently honored by the king and queen of Sweden as his nation's premier athlete.
So yeah, to him, this really is how it's supposed to be.
"I just have to play the way I need to play," he'd add. "That's what I'm doing right now."
Oh, my goodness, is he ever:
• Since Feb. 28, soon after the NHL resumed play following the Olympic break, he leads the entire NHL -- not just defensemen -- in scoring with 19 points on seven goals, 12 assists over 13 games.
• Five of those goals have come in the past three games alone.
• He has seven multiple-point outputs in the past 11 games.
In this one, after the Jets had scored twice to tie, 2-2, and had plainly taken control of the second period, Karlsson settled the scene by whipping a wrister past Connor Hellebuyck at 15:22, this after the latter had been bumped by a teammate.
And in the third, after the most awful version of Arturs Silovs had pretty much gifted the lead back to the Jets, it was Karlsson ensuring an extra session with this precise finish at 12:45:
Characteristically, he'd spread the credit.
"I think it was about our entire game," he'd say. "You need a lot of experience. I think we have a lot of that in this room. And even today, when at times we didn't play our best hockey, gave up a lot of chances, I felt like there wasn't any panic. We stuck with it. Trusted the process."
And fed the right point. Repeatedly.
"He’s taken it to another level. He really has.," Dan Muse would say, and wait a second before assuming he was contradicting Karlsson's above assessment. "It's been incredible watching it. And I’m not surprised by it. Obviously now, you get to this time of year, everything's elevated. And so, he's been great all year, and, when it's getting harder, it's getting tighter, and he's just finding a way to keep coming up with big plays, big defensive plays, big offensive plays, you name it. He's been unbelievable."
That's right. The defense, too. He's led the Penguins in all possession metrics over this same post-Olympic surge -- on the ice for a team-high 52.4% of all shot attempts at five-on-five, for example -- he's logged a team-high 26:24 of ice time per game, and he's been pivotal on both the power play and penalty-kill.
"There's not too many guys in the league who can do what he does," Bryan Rust would say. "He's been a catalyst for us, obviously, offensively, but he's making really good plays defensively too. He's a calming presence on the ice, on the bench too. When you get in these shaky situations, having a guy like that back there and seeing how well he's been playing, it makes a difference."
"He's doing so much for us," Rickard Rakell would essentially echo. "It's not just scoring goals. It's the way that he breaks out pucks, and keeping a close gap on their entries, and just dictating the game. And then, obviously, everybody knows his game, and when he's confident, he's one of the best defensemen in our league still. He shows that he can do it all."
Still.
Karlsson's spoken often of the difference Muse has made, never making it a secret that he didn't feel the same freedom to skate and create under Mike Sullivan. And he reiterated that for me here, as well.
"We have great players here," he'd say with a motion to the rest of the room. "You don't want to be locked in any way. Or in a straight line. You want your players to make plays."
None of which would be relevant, of course, if he couldn't still soar a foot above the rink. But he does, still registering the fastest clocked speed of anyone on the roster this season by NHL Edge analytics -- 27.23 mph, just a week ago in Salt Lake City -- and still showing some of the sport's most freakish side-to-side, backward and every other kind of skatework.
The man's 35 going on 25. And once again looking every bit the Norris candidate he ever was in Ottawa or San Jose.
"I'm just doing what I do," he'd respond with a shrug when I spoke exactly that to him. "What I want ... what we ALL want in here is to win. This wasn't our best game, but we feel like we've got a great team here. That's what motivates me."
• I have a separate column detailing a strangely successful shootout.
• And yet another on -- what else? -- goaltender interference.
• Thanks for reading. The Carolina Diving Brind'Amours are pitching their tent here tomorrow.
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