CAPTAIN GOES DOWN WITH THE SENS’ SHIP
Karlsson forced to exit after two periods as Ottawa loses Game 4 in lacklustre fashion
Cutting the head off the snake.
It’s an old military expression, the idea of taking out the most feared opponent first, so the rest of the opposition army is easier to deal with.
On Thursday, the New York Rangers applied it to hockey, systematically wearing down Ottawa Senators captain Erik Karlsson.
Karlsson was beat up again and again in the opening two periods.
He didn’t make it out for the third period, finishing the night with 14:52 of ice time and a minus-1 beside his name. He was officially credited with one hit, but he was on the receiving end of five or six big hits.
Karlsson was favouring his left foot as he departed following the second period, perhaps re-aggravating the tender foot/ heel that caused him to miss action late in the regular season and bothered him in the opening few games of the playoffs against Boston. Karlsson hit the ice hard following one of many battles with Rangers pest J.T. Miller late in the second period.
“We just decided to keep him out for the third period,” said Senators coach Guy Boucher.
When asked if there was a danger Karlsson could miss Game 5 Saturday at Canadian Tire Centre, Boucher said, “not for now”.
The Rangers hit him early. They hit him again. And they hit him some more, putting him in
a thoroughly frustrated frame of mind, where he almost became a non-factor in the Rangers’ dominating 4-1 victory.
The signature exchange came about seven minutes into the second period when Miller and Karlsson went head-to-head in the corner in an exchange of bodychecks. Karlsson tried to hold his own in the board battle — where, we must ask, were his teammates to do some of that hard, but necessary, dirty work? — but by the end of the exchange, Karlsson was on the ice.
As the shift ended, Karlsson showed his frustrations in a heated exchange with Rangers sparkplug Mats Zuccarello. Ultimately, both went to the penalty box. That exchange, actually any exchange involving Karlsson in the penalty box, is a win for the Rangers.
There was more anger where that came from. When a questionable icing call took a scoring chance away from Clarke MacArthur, Karlsson appeared on the verge of losing it, throwing a disbelieving Guy Boucherlike stare at the officials. Bobby Ryan stepped in to save his captain from getting into potentially deep trouble.
If the Senators’ success this season has been about having a “soul,” as Boucher has been fond of saying, Karlsson is at the heart of it, the engine that kicks into high gear when the team needs a jolt of something special.
Karlsson couldn’t find the magic for two periods and the engine was off the ice altogether in the third.
“He’s our best player,” said Senators centre Kyle Turris. “He’s a big part of our success, but at the same time, we’ve got to find ways to move forward without him if he’s not back. You see Pittsburgh do it without (Sidney) Crosby. We’ve got to find a way to do it if Karl is not back.”
Bobby Ryan, who showed some fight late in the spirited finish, agreed nothing will come easy without Karlsson.
“It’s hard to replace Erik, your captain,” Ryan said. “At same time, you’ve just got to do it by committee, you have five other (defencemen). Those guys filled those minutes well.”
The Senators captain came into the game with all the right intentions, of course.
He used the buzzwords about the need for the team to show more desperation and intensity and to rediscover the structure that has paved the way for so much success.
Yet he also said it wasn’t time for him to boldly go face-to-face with his teammates in the dressing room, challenging them to be better.
“You can talk about stuff and say all the right things,” he said before the game. “But it’s about what you do when you step on the ice. That’s the most important thing. I’m going to make sure I’m ready to play the best game of the series, for me, individually. I think everyone else wants to do the same.”
Just like Game 3 on Tuesday, when Karlsson and his team played their worst game of the playoffs, it didn’t start well.
The Rangers’ opening goal came off a mistake — as yet another puck skipped over Mark Stone’s stick along the boards in the offensive zone — setting up a three-on-two break.
With Karlsson backing up into the Senators’ zone, Kevin Hayes made a clever saucer pass over Karlsson’s stick. Defenceman Nick Holden jumped up from his point position, took the pass and beat Craig Anderson with a nifty move.
Offensively, Karlsson had a couple of rushes in the opening period, shooting high on Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist after finding a line down the right side.
With the Rangers nursing their 1-0 lead late in the first period, Karlsson played give-and-go with Stone in the New York zone. Karlsson found himself in an ideal shooting position in the slot, ready to pick a corner on Lundqvist. Instead, his stick shattered. In many ways, it’s a symbol of his night. Depending on the extent of Karlsson’s injury, it might also serve as a symbol for when the Senators season slipped away from them altogether.