Karlsson happy he didn’t stick to goaltending — so are the Sens
Erik Karlsson posted a picture of himself as a kid fully decked out in goalie equipment on his Instagram account Friday morning.
“My first professional photo as a hockey player,” Karlsson noted, with a hahahaha, on the post.
Well, the Senators are fortunate Karlsson didn’t stay in the net that long. Asked when he stopped being a goaltender, Karlsson didn’t miss a beat.
“Probably two days after that picture was taken,” he said Friday at the Canadian Tire Centre. “I was a goalie when I was younger. It was cool to have all the gear on and I thought everybody could be a goaltender. We switched around and the first team photo I was ever in, I was a goaltender.
“I’m happy that I didn’t go that route, but I’m also happy I got the chance to go that route. It’s a lot of fun when you’re a young kid and people don’t shoot that hard.”
These days, Karlsson is making life pretty tough for goalies.
He scored his first career Stanley Cup playoff winning goal in the club’s 2-1 win Thursday night when his shot from the below the goal-line bounced off Derek Stepan’s pants, hit Henrik Lundqvist’s mask and went into the net with only 4:11 left in the third period to break the 1-1 tie.
That’s not the first time Karlsson has scored that way.
“He can do things that most guys can’t do,” said winger Mark Stone. “You look at that goal (Thursday), he doesn’t see anything so he gives himself a chance to score a goal. Those are the types of things I think some guys don’t think of. For me to say I would have done that, probably not.
“He thinks it so fast, saw nothing and gave himself a chance to score a goal.”
Karlsson has been getting plenty of praise in these playoffs, but he’s trying not to listen to the noise right now.
“I’m here to play hockey and that’s all I can do,” said Karlsson. “I do whatever I can for my team to be successful and everybody on our team does the same thing. That’s all that we worry about. What people say, whether it’s good or bad, it’s not something that we can control or any of us are concerned about or pay attention to.” bgarrioch@postmedia.com Twitter.com/sungarrioch