from Chris Johnston of Sportsnet,
There are exactly 65 steps to the visitor’s dressing room after players step off the ice at Madison Square Garden.
Erik Karlsson limped painfully through each and every one of them.
He had just skated for more than six of the final eight minutes, holding his nerve while the New York Rangers threw everything they had at the Ottawa Senators. This was a man who had carried his team to its first Eastern Conference Final in a decade and then went from looking super human to fragile right before our very eyes.
The playoffs, man. What a grind.
“That’s the way it should be,” Karlsson said after Ottawa’s stirring 4-2 victory on Tuesday. “That’s the fun part of this sport: It’s going to hurt, it’s not going to be easy.”
We are still only two rounds into this Stanley Cup marathon, but it’s undeniable that the 26-year-old Swede is authoring something special this spring. The kind of performance that will be spoken about with reverence no matter what happens next.
The hockey world is naturally looking at this Senators team this morning and wondering: How did they do this? How did they possibly reach the final four?
And then, perhaps, they’ll watch the highlights and see No. 65 in the middle of absolutely everything. He put up five points over the final two games as Ottawa pushed the Rangers off the cliff.
Below are two videos, Karlsson post-game and Guy Boucher too...
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