PHILADELPHIA – Even before he scored the overtime goal on Thursday night, giving the Sharks a 1-0 win over the Flyers, there was high praise from the dressing room for forward Melker Karlsson.
After the morning skate at Wells Fargo Center, linemate Joe Thornton compared him to a pretty decent player that he’s gotten accustomed to skating with for the past few seasons.
“He’s so smart, he has good hands, he can finish, gets in on the forecheck. He’s like [Joe Pavelski], he just does a lot of little things right,” Thornton said.
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Karlsson wasn’t quite ready to agree with Thornton on the comparison to the Sharks’ captain and leading scorer, but there’s no question that the team has gotten a boost from the 25-year-old forward that missed essentially all of training camp and the first 15 games of the season with a lower body injury.
In five games, Karlsson has three goals, four points and a +4 rating. The Sharks are 4-1-0 since his return.
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“I might not have the skill that Pav has but I try to work hard, and Pav works really hard,” Karlsson said. “That’s what I’m trying to do, play like him, how he skates, how he sees the ice. I just try to fit in on that combination there. It’s working pretty well.”
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Karlsson said that his linemates were a help to him last season, when he came out of nowhere to score 13 goals and 24 points after he was recalled from the AHL in December.
Now in his second season, they apparently don’t seem to think he needs too much advice at this point.
“Now I know how they play and how they want me to go. We don’t talk too much anymore,” Karlsson said through a chuckle.
From the outside, the opinion of Karlsson may be different than how he’s viewed internally. After all, playing with guys like Thornton and Pavelski, in theory, shouldn’t be all that difficult. There should be an abundance of scoring chances for whoever is on that line due to the time and space those two have the ability to create.
That’s a false way of looking at it, though, according to coach Pete DeBoer.
“He’s a legitimate top six forward now,” DeBoer said. “I don’t think he’s just there out of default, which maybe was the perception a year ago. From the outside looking in, you’re looking at Thornton and Pavelski and whoever. I don’t think that’s the case anymore.
“There’s no fear in his game. He plays the right way. It’s hard to find guys that create offense, good players want to play with, and they don’t do it by cheating or taking shortcuts. He’s a complete hockey player.”
The proof has been in the results. The Thornton-Karlsson-Pavelski line was the Sharks’ best in a 5-4 win in Boston on Tuesday, and created some good chances in the first period against the Flyers before the entire team got a bit sluggish in the second and third periods.
The Sharks are a perfect 4-0 since Karlsson returned to the top line full time. It’s also allowed Joonas Donskoi – who beautifully set up Karlsson in overtime – to provide more depth down the lineup.
It’s a big reason the Sharks seem to be rolling now, and Karlsson is feeling better with every outing.
“My conditioning is getting there now,” he said. “It takes a couple of games, and now I think I’m in it.”