SAN JOSE – Erik Karlsson has moved further up the NHL’s all-time single-season scoring list for a defenseman and will be within striking distance of 100 points for the year in two days when the San Jose Sharks play their final home game of the season.
Karlsson had a goal and a highlight assist in the Sharks’ 6-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche at SAP Center on Thursday, giving him 98 points, a mark reached only 15 other times by a defenseman in the 105- year history of the NHL.
Karlsson can become just the sixth different defenseman in NHL history to reach 100 points in a season on Saturday when the Sharks host Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers.
Karlsson scored an equalizing goal at 3:43 p.m. of the first period, jabbing a loose puck located near the crease through the legs of Avalanche goaltender Alexandar Georgiev to give the Sharks a 1–0 lead. to give. After defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche scored four straight to take a three-goal lead, Karlsson then assisted on Steven Lorentz’s equally strong goal at 8:41.
During the game, after Lorentz won a faceoff in the Colorado zone, Karlsson took control of the puck, avoided a check as he shot to the goal line, then doubled back to the blue line and skated to the center of the field. ice. He then found Lorentz on the side of the avalanche net with a tape-to-tape pass that shot the Sharks’ centerman into a nearly empty net with Georgiev out of position.
Lorentz scores on a pass from Karlsson 🤝 pic.twitter.com/VgzUrERiCX
— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) April 7, 2023
The goal was Lorentz’s ninth of the season, marking a new single-season career high after scoring eight for the Carolina Hurricanes the previous season.
The assist marked Karlsson’s 53rd point at home this season, the second-highest total in Sharks history. Joe Thornton had 65 points in 41 home games in 2006-07.
A defenseman has scored 100 points in a season 14 times in NHL history. Bobby Orr did it six times, with his 139 points in 1970–71 still an NHL single-season record for a defenseman. Paul Coffey did it five times in seven seasons between 1983-84 to 1989-90, with Al MacInnis, Brian Leetch and Denis Potvin each doing it once in 1990-91, 1991-92 and 1978-79 respectively.
With his two points on Thursday, Karlsson passed Phil Housley’s 97-point season in 1992-93 for the former Winnipeg Jets. Karlsson’s season is now the 15th most productive in league history, matching Potvin’s total of 98 points for the New York Islanders in 1975–76.
