Erik Karlsson was not a happy camper following the Senators 4-3 shootout loss to the San Jose Sharks.
Things got testy in the second period when a scrum between Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Karlsson got vicious, as the former appeared to spear the Sens defenseman. The dirty play was caught on cameras. Despite only catching a glimpse of what happened, Vlasic used his stick to hit Karlsson while he was on his knees. It looks really bad.
Karlsson wasn’t happy, as he said Vlasic tried to pitchfork him in the face.
“Well I mean I’m down in the corner battling and I lose my stick. The play is gone and I’m reaching for it and he tries to pitchfork me in the face and I’m lucky that I’m looking down,” Karlsson told reporters after the game.
Senators forward Kyle Turris jumped in to defend Karlsson, receiving a five-minute major for fighting, an instigator penalty and a game misconduct for jumping Vlasic. Karlsson seemed appreciative of the gesture.
“As far as I’m concerned that’s a dangerous play, intentional, and I’ve got to give it to (Turris) for sticking up for me and I’m happy I didn’t lose my cool and do something stupid.”
The incident, while grainy, is worthy of a suspension. Vlasic’s lucky he didn’t make hard contact with Karlsson, otherwise, a lengthy ban would be imminent. I like that Turris feels the need to stick up for his teammate, but getting a penalty and ejected from the game doesn’t help anyone.
[theScore]
