Erik Karlsson just finished an incredible series leading the Ottawa Senators past the favored Boston Bruins in the first round of the 2017 NHL playoffs. Now it turns out the feat was even more impressive than at first glance because Karlsson has been playing through multiple hairline fractures in his left foot, per ESPN’s Joe McDonald.
Erik Karlsson leads Senators to 2nd round of NHL playoffs with 2 hairline fractures in his foot
Apparently having just one good foot is no problem for the Ottawa superstar.
Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
The defenseman revealed the injury to reporters after the Senators’ 3-2 overtime win in Game 6 on Sunday.
Karlsson suffered the foot injury on March 28 while blocking a shot in a game against the Philadelphia Flyers. He missed the final five games of the regular season while recovering from the injury before returning to the ice for Game 1 of the playoffs against Boston.
From the first puck drop, Karlsson was good to go as he played over 24 minutes and recorded an assist. In Games 2 and 3, he played a combined 61:44 with two assists as the Senators won back-to-back overtimes.
The star defenseman, who is again a finalist for the Norris Trophy, finished the series with six assists in six games. He also played a team-high 136 minutes during 5-on-5 play and posted a 56.7-percent Corsi during that time, per Natural Stat Trick. These are not the indications of a man playing on one foot.
And yet that’s where Karlsson appears to be at this point, although it’s unclear just how severe those hairline fractures are. You usually don’t see NHL players revealing lingering injuries during the playoffs — that’s reserved for after elimination when the news pours out about the nicks and bruises that have been kept under wraps.
Now the Senators’ next opponent, the New York Rangers, knows that their top defenseman might not be at 100 percent, which probably isn’t ideal. Then again, given how well Karlsson played against the Bruins, it may not matter.
See More:
