KARLSSON CRUCIAL TO SENS’ SEASON
Foot injury doesn’t appear to be serious, but Ottawa can’t afford to rest its superstar
Erik Karlsson says his latest foot issue is “nothing, really.”
But when the best defenceman in the NHL is on the bench for the final 14 minutes and 23 seconds of the season’s biggest game — while his team is nursing a two-goal, third-period lead for the first time in weeks — it’s definitely something.
The way Karlsson pushed himself around the ice like he was on a skateboard when named one of the game’s three stars, then limped down the tunnel to the dressing room, is something that should be of serious concern to the Senators.
They showed exactly how bad they can be without Karlsson when they lost in Minnesota and Winnipeg last week. If that hobble doesn’t improve, they could also be minus No. 65 on Thursday in Boston, against a Bruins team that is the hottest in the NHL with six straight victories.
After that looms the threat that weekend meetings with the Rangers (at home) and Islanders (on the road) could be Ottawa’s final two games of the season — especially if Karlsson is unable to participate.
The injury is to the right foot, which he jammed while crashing into the boards on a missed check, and not the left, which was damaged by a blocked shot. Logic suggests it can’t be really serious, or he wouldn’t have even been visible in the third period of Tuesday’s 2-0 win over the Red Wings. He certainly wouldn’t have been talking to the media when it was over, either.
“I’m watching guys like (Fredrik) Claesson and (Ben) Harpur, especially, they played really well (Monday) and even better (Tuesday),” said Karlsson in explaining why his duties were reduced to opening and closing the bench door. “The guys did a great job in just controlling the game and we felt it wasn’t really necessary to use me at the end, unless we really needed to, and it never got to that point. Just took some ice time off and rested up.”
Nobody aside from the team’s doctors, trainers, coaches, management and Karlsson himself have a clue as to how bad he is hurt. At this time of the season especially, you couldn’t torture the truth out of those in the know.
Ignorance won’t stop the countless suggestions of others that the Senators give him extra time to heal his heel, as close as they are to clinching. But if Karlsson says he can go, then play he must — at least until the Senators clinch second place in the Atlantic Division.
Needing just one point to reserve themselves a spot in the post-season tournament, that part really should be mere formality. But just making the playoffs is no longer enough for this Senators season to be deemed a success. They need to win a round, and if they can do that on the side of the bracket they currently sit as the second-place team, they have a legitimate shot of advancing to the conference finals.
If home ice is only a slight advantage, the Senators must do what they can to grab it for a best-of-seven against either Boston or Toronto. They’ll need all they help they can get.
Should they settle into the eighth slot, however, the Senators would draw Washington in the first round, and they’d face the very real possibility of playing just four more games than they did last season.
As Karlsson pointed out, he was more than adequately replaced on Tuesday. Harpur, in particular, was very solid with a workload of 19:17 that was almost eight minutes more than he had played in an NHL game this season and four minutes more than his career high.
“You look at his reach, and he’s a very smart player,” Dion Phaneuf said of Harpur, who is listed everywhere as 6-foot-6 but refers to himself as being 6-foot-5.
“He moves really well for a big guy. He comes into a time of year where these games are big games, pressure-packed, and he came in and fit right in. He’s done a real good job.”
But, of course, there’s only one Karlsson, and that one appears to be stealing the Norris Trophy out of Brent Burns’ hands following the San Jose Sharks blue-liner’s tough sledding in the second half of the season.
Burns has 28 goals, but only one in his past 21 games. He has 74 points, but just four in the past 14 games.
Karlsson has 17 goals and 71 points and hasn’t been held off the scoresheet in consecutive games since early February. In his past 30 games, he has 32 points, including 10 goals.
Karlsson, who averages two more minutes of ice time than Burns, also continues to lead the league with 201 blocked shots.
Along with the Norris, Karlsson should be either the winner or runner-up in Hart Trophy voting. For without their sore-footed leader, the Senators wouldn’t have a leg to stand on or a prayer of making the playoffs.
With Karlsson, however, they could still go for a good, long run this spring.