Karlsson’s pluses and minuses on full display
Somewhere along the way this season, following his summer foot surgery, the old Erik Karlsson reappeared.
It’s the Karlsson who can make brilliant offensive plays on one shift, followed by a defensive gaffe on the next, the player who Senators fans were so familiar with in his early years in the NHL.
At this point, he’s not the Karlsson who dominated defensively throughout 2016-17, while also picking the perfect high-percentage spots to showcase his offensive talents.
There is no better example of the new-old Karlsson than in Wednesday’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings. With time ticking down in regulation, Karlsson twice came within inches of stealing a victory for the Senators.
But after Jean- Gabriel Pageau won the faceoff to open overtime, Karlsson’s ill-advised offensive gamble turned into a sudden loss. Andreas Athanasiou sprinted past Karlsson for the game-winning overtime breakaway goal, only six seconds into the extra period. Accordingly, criticism of the Senators captain was not hard to find.
As Karlsson goes, so go the Senators. In the past 21 games, he has two goals, six assists and a plus/minus of minus-21.
“It’s a wobbling puck, we’re going on offence, they’re going on offence and we gave it to (Athanasiou) and he was gone,” said Senators coach Guy Boucher of the game-winner. “There’s a fraction of a second to decide there. If that wobbling puck goes forward, we get a two-onone because their two guys were coming. There’s the overtime crapshoot.”
In the bigger picture, Boucher deflected away questions about the ugly plus/minus number beside Karlsson’s name, saying his consistency at both ends is improving.
“We want our guys to be good today, defensively and offensively, period,” he said. “Erik can do both and he has done both. He’s the first guy who is going to tell you he wants to be a plus. We all knew it was going to take a long time for him to start getting his game back (following surgery).”