Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Ottawa’s Karlsson: ‘I’m not playing the way I want to’

Sergei Gonchar, Erik Karlsson, Marc Methot

Ottawa Senators’ Sergei Gonchar (55), Erik Karlsson (65) and Marc Methot, right, wait while officials access penalties late in the third period of Game 1 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup second-round playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh Tuesday, May 14, 2013. The Penguins won 4-1. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

AP

Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson had a Game 2 against Pittsburgh he’d like to forget. He played just 15:37, the fewest minutes he’s seen in the playoffs in his short career, and was abused by Sidney Crosby as he cruised to a hat trick.

For Karlsson, however, he’s eager to improve how he’s playing. Erin Nicks of NHL.com hears it from the man himself.

“I’m not playing the way I want to,” Karlsson said. “I [have to] play a little bit more poised with the puck and a little bit faster in our own zone. I can’t doubt myself.”

This is one of those situations where Ottawa fans hope Karlsson has a short memory because of how forgettable Game 2 was for him. It’s easy to forget that his comeback from a torn Achilles tendon was the feel-good story at the end of the season and into the first-round of the playoffs, but you wonder if that’s hampering his ability to keep up with the talent of the Penguins.