Penguins Ground Jets in Shootout (!!) 5-4
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.