When Kyle Dubas acquired three-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson back in August 2023, I remember gazing at his ’22-23 statistics with awe-struck wonder. It was one thing for Paul Coffey to regularly rack up 100-point seasons while skating with offensive giants like Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux during the heyday of run ‘n’ gun hockey.
But for Karlsson to tally 25 goals and 101 points in modern times, some 34 points higher than his closest teammate, while skating for a truly dreadful Sharks team?
Simply astounding.
I often wondered how he did it. Especially since his first two seasons in the ‘Burgh, decent but spotty, didn’t come close to approaching the exceptionally high performance bar the quicksilver defender had set for himself.
I’m not wondering any more. Not after his second-straight, two-goal game, a supreme effort that helped propel the Penguins to a scrambling 5-4 shootout victory over the Jets at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday afternoon.
Guess I’d better rewind and start at the beginning. The Pens opened the proceedings as if they intended to run the visitors right out of the barn. Scarcely a minute into the contest, Evgeni Malkin sent Egor Chinakhov flying into the Jets’ zone with a chip pass off the boards. Chinakhov sliced paced defenseman Dyan DeMelo with a dynamic move that would’ve done Jaromír Jágr proud and beat gold-medal goalie Connor Hellebuyck to stake us to a quick lead.
Less than a minute later, Bryan Rust picked DeMelo’s pocket at the far blue line, bolted around Josh Morrissey and set up Rickard Rakell with a sweet backhand pass for an easy finish.
Full stop.
Any time you score two quick goals on Hellebuyck, you’d darn well better find a way to make it stand up. Our guys most emphatically did not. Instead, we allowed the Jets to immediately claw back into contention at 3:50 following a bizarre sequence that would’ve done the Keystone Kops proud.
Coach Dan Muse challenged, claiming goalie interference, basically because Morgan Barron slammed into Karlsson, who in turn body-blocked Arturs Šilovs out of our net. The officials, who seem to re-interpret Rule 69 each time just to oppose us, ruled good goal. Our early momentum dissipated like the steam escaping from Muse’s ears.
The Jets knotted the score at 2-all on a shorty by Cole Koepke off a 2-on-1 at 6:10 of the second period.
Cue Karlsson’s first missile at 15:22. After taking a sharp, cross-ice feed from partner Parker Wotherspoon, EK65 took a stride toward the right faceoff dot and surveyed the scene, head-up. Then he let ‘er rip, a tracer bullet that found Hellebuyck’s six-hole before slamming off the far post and in.
Unfazed, the Jets took it to us to start the third period. Neal Pionk beat Šilovs glove-side from distance at 4:04 to tie the game at 3-apiece. Brad Lambert staked the Jets to their first lead of the game at 8:36 on a wrister from the high slot.
Heroics needed. Again, Karlsson delivered. Taking a drop-pass from Rust in the high left circle, Erik the Great again took a moment to zero his target. Then…WHAM…the puck was past Hellebuyck in the blink of eye.
Overtime followed an all-too-familiar pattern. The Pens threw everything, and I mean e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g, at Hellebuyck. They even had the now obligatory power play and couldn’t convert. Which meant…shootout.
I couldn’t stand to watch. I turned the game off. Yep…refused to be a witness to another galling end.
You can only imagine my surprise shock when I tuned back in and learned that we’d won! (For posterity’s sake, Sidney Crosby and Rakell netted our shootout goals.)
Puckpourri
The Pens outshot the Jets, 31-25. The visitors held a slight edge (62-58) in shot attempts.
Karlsson is in some kind of groove. EK65 now has 19 points, including seven goals, in his last dozen games. An astounding five goals and 10 points in his last four games.
One of the Pens’ announcers observed that earlier in the season Karlsson seemed to be favoring the shot/pass. Now he’s shooting to score. Something I’d noted going back to last season: when he shoots from the circles and below he’s deadly as snake venom.
Speaking of lethal, Chinakhov tallied a goal and a helper. Egor has a pair of goals and 10 points in his last eight games.
Sam Girard returned to the lineup and registered his first point (an assist) in eight games since joining the Pens. In those eight games we’ve allowed 21 non-shootout goals. In the five games he missed (all on the recent road trip) we also allowed 21 non-shootout goals.
It wasn’t Šilovs finest game between the pipes. In particular, he struggled to control rebounds, something colleague Other Rick has been quick to note. However, he hung tough and even snuffed Jets shooters Jonathan Toews and Gustav Nyquist in the shootout.
Ryan Shea was forced to exit in the second period after absorbing a high, hard hit from towering Jets captain Adam Lowry. He returned to the bench for the third period sporting a full face shield, then departed again.
The fourth line struggled to the tune of a 21.43 Corsi and 31.36 xGF%. At the risk of making a Cap’n Obvious observation, we’re really going to miss Blake Lizotte before all is said and done. He does so many little things that turn into the big things that help you win.
Observation No. 2…we seem to be increasingly drawn into track meets where we’re forced to outscore the opposition. Sure makes for some entertaining hockey, but perhaps not the most sound approach.
Needless to say, garnering the second point was HUGE. The Pens (35-18-16, 86 points) cling to second place in the Metro…for now. At least temporarily, the CBJ (85 points) have dislodged the Isles (83 points).
The wild-card teams, Boston and Detroit, each have 84 points. As do the third-in-the-Atlantic Canadiens.
Definitely not a playoff chase for the faint of heart.
Tomorrow afternoon, those #$@& Hurricanes at home.
A final, unpleasant thought. Muse is now 0-for-8 on goalie interference challenges.