Erik Karlsson enters Sunday's All-Star Game in Los Angeles with a bit of a cold stick.
The offensively gifted defenseman has failed to hit the back of the net in each of the Ottawa Senators' past 20 games dating back to Dec. 7 in nearby San Jose.
Perhaps the California sun and, more importantly, the three-on-three All-Star format can help Karlsson find his scoring touch, but either way, he doesn't seem all that concerned about being stuck on seven goals through 47 games this season so long as his team continues to impress.
"I’ve been around long enough to know things like this are going to happen," Karlsson said, per Don Brennan of the Ottawa Citizen. "I haven’t been needing to score that many goals in order for us to win. At the end of the day, that’s the thing you can’t take away from it. Still trying out there, but we’ve been playing good hockey. Guys have been stepping up. We’ve been getting a lot of creativity and goal-scoring from different guys. Obviously that’s huge for us."
Senators head coach Guy Boucher echoes the sentiment.
"Every game he’s so menacing, it’s not an issue. And the team is winning," Boucher said. "That’s the thing with Erik. At the beginning of the year when we talked, he says, 'Coach, I don’t care about my points. I just want to win. I’m at the point in my career, I want to win.'
"For him, it’s all about winning. Big smile after every game. Goal, point, no point, it made no difference. He’s been unbelievable for that. But he is pushing hard, because he wants to make a difference. He’s a top gun, and that’s what top guns do. And he’s got character, so it’ll happen."
What's more concerning, perhaps, is that Karlsson's shot rate has been dropping consistently over the past two seasons after he recorded a career-high 21 goals in 2014-15.
| Season | Games | Goals | Shots | Shots/GP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-15 | 82 | 21 | 292 | 3.6 |
| 2015-16 | 82 | 16 | 248 | 3 |
| 2016-17 | 47 | 7 | 108 | 2.3 |
His shooting percentage (6.5) sits at half a percent lower than his career average (7.0), meaning a barrage of shots on net down the stretch could bring him on pace for the 15-20 goal range.
The Senators sit second in the Atlantic Division at the break, but rank 11th in the Eastern Conference with 127 goals. A bump from Karlsson would go a long way to securing a playoff spot.
Fire away in L.A.
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