When the Pittsburgh Penguins hit the road to face the San Jose Sharks on Saturday, it will be more than just another game for Erik Karlsson.
Karlsson will make his return to the city where he spent five seasons, among them the 101-point campaign for which he captured the Norris Trophy last season as the league’s best defenseman.
“I got a lot of good memories there,” said Karlsson, who was traded to the Penguins in the summer. “I’m hoping to create some more memories in that rink.
“It’s going to be nice to see a lot of familiar faces and meet a lot of people I haven’t seen in a while. It’s also nice that it’s early in the season. We can kind of get it over with and move forward.”
While the San Jose fans will welcome back Karlsson, the clash is also a meeting of a Penguins squad that sits at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings against a winless Sharks team that is at the bottom of the league.
Acquiring Karlsson was supposed to help the Penguins rekindle their Stanley Cup hopes. Through nine games, in which Pittsburgh has mustered only three victories, Karlsson has collected two goals and six points.
Karlsson has been trying to find his top-tier game since the move, but that is the case for the whole club, which has lost five of six games, the most recent Monday’s 4-3 home defeat at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks.
“I think there’s another level to his game that he can bring to our team, and we’re working through that process right now,” coach Mike Sullivan said.
As much of a struggle as it has been for the Penguins, the Sharks are in an even bigger chasm. San Jose has just one extra-time loss against nine regulation-time defeats.
The losses have piled up, but it reached a new low in Thursday’s 10-1 home-ice loss to the Vancouver Canucks. The Sharks surrendered as many goals in that game as they have scored all season.
“I’ve never been in a situation like this, I don’t think any of us (have), to be honest with you,” forward Nico Sturm said. “I suppose the one good thing is that this is about as low as it’s going to get. So, I suppose that’s the only positive in this situation.”
San Jose, with the league’s worst offense and worst defense, has been outscored 44-10 and is only the 10th team in NHL history be winless in its first 10 games of a season. The record for most games without a victory to start a season is 15, held by the 1943-44 New York Rangers.
For the first half-dozen games, the Sharks were able to at least say they were competitive and believe a win was around the corner with a break or two. The humbling at the hands of the Canucks, though, sent a new message to the club.
“Everybody, especially starting with me, needs to look in the mirror,” forward Tomas Hertl said. “This just can’t happen.”
That said, losing in such embarrassing fashion should help players snap to attention with the hopes of preventing more of the same.
“We didn’t even give ourselves the chance to win, but it’s going to happen,” coach David Quinn of his rebuilding club. “I guarantee you that we’re going to start playing like a team more consistently. We’re going to start winning some hockey games here.”
–Field Level Media