EDMONTON — Growing up in southern Sweden, Linus Karlsson’s favourite player was nicknamed “The Mule.”
The Vancouver Canucks could use some mule-like strength and resolve Sunday night, when Karlsson makes his National Hockey League playoffs debut against the Edmonton Oilers.
Recalled after his American Hockey League season ended, Karlsson, 24, skated Sunday morning on a line with Elias Pettersson and Ilya Mikheyev. He appears to be replacing Nils Hoglander in the Canuck lineup after the Oilers won 4-3 Friday in Vancouver to even the Stanley Cup quarter-final series, 1-1.
Karlsson was born in Eksjo and grew up in the area that produced Johan Franzen, a renowned and physical playoff performer who won a Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings in 2008. Former Detroit captain Steve Yzerman nicknamed Franzen “The Mule.”
“Johan Franzen is from my hometown, so I remember when he won the Cup,” Karlsson said after the morning skate. “That was a big thing for my hometown. And then even Erik Karlsson is also from my hometown. No relation. When he played — I don’t know what year it was, but he had a sick playoff against Pittsburgh (with the Ottawa Senators, in 2007) — that’s probably a playoff memory, too. Growing up, I watched them all the time.”
Karlsson played four NHL games for the Canucks during three recalls in the first half of this season. He did not register a point while averaging 10:09 of ice time. But he had 23 goals and 60 points in 60 games for the Abbotsford Canucks and was nearly a point-per-game player as the Swedish Hockey League’s top rookie in 2021-22.
Canuck coach Rick Tocchet would not confirm any lineup changes, but on Saturday expressed dissatisfaction with Hoglander.
The coach is putting the onus on Pettersson, who has struggled for weeks, even when given the chance to play with Vancouver’s top wingers, to drive his line with Karlsson and Mikheyev. One winger has zero NHL goals, and other one goal in his last 58 games.
“I haven’t ever played a playoff game in the NHL, so it’s new to me,” Karlsson said. “But I will try to play simple and play my game, and probably adjust after that. I’ve never played with Petey. He’s one of the best in the league, so I just try to talk to him and see where he wants me. But I’m not going to change my game; I’ve got to try to be the player I am.”
“A good wall, sticky guy,” Tocchet described Karlsson. “Goes to the net, net-front guy. He’s really progressed as the year went on. Talking to some people, he had a really good playoff (in the American Hockey League). He’s a viable option for us tonight. Definitely, someone that can add some stuff for us if he does play.”
OTHER CHANGES
After trying in Game 2 to play through an ankle injury, Oilers forward Adam Henrique will come out of the lineup for winger Connor Brown. Leon Draisaitl (back) did not participate in Edmonton’s optional skate but is expected to play again after his four-point night in Game 2.
Nils Aman, who was with the Canucks most of the season but has been a healthy scratch through eight playoff games, skated Sunday morning on the fourth line after winger Phil DiGiuseppe went home to Vancouver for personal reasons.
PROJECTED LINEUPS FOR GAME 3
Canucks
Suter-Miller-Boeser
Joshua-Lindhom-Garland
Karlsson-Pettersson-Mikheyev
Aman-Blueger-Lafferty
Hughes-Hronek
Soucy-Myers
Zadorov-Cole
Silovs
Oilers
Draisaitl-McDavid-Hyman
Kane-Nugent-Hopkins-Foegele
Holloway-McLeod-Perry
Janmark-Ryan-Brown
Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Ceci
Kulak-Desharnais
Skinner
GOLF BAD, WINNING GOOD. SCORING DEPTH, NICE
You can talk about getting more scoring from down the Oilers lineup, but you’d better remember: so much of the prime offensive time is being eaten up by Connor McDavid’s line, and Draisaitl’s line, too, when he is deployed as a centre.
“Everyone wants to help contribute on the scoresheet,” said Oilers winger Warren Foegele, who had 20 goals this season but has been up and down the Edmonton lineup in these playoffs. “But … guys provide other things to this team. Whether it’s drawing penalties or making the right stick plays, wearing teams down … those things are valuable to this team, and that helps us get wins. At the end of the day, wins are more important than individual points.”
The Oilers aren’t a “normal” team where ice time is concerned. It’s not necessarily a “new hero every night” kind of team. And as long as the team is winning, nobody is complaining.
Still, any team hoping to play well into the spring will need more than just strong defensive play from its depth forwards. Eventually, guys such as Foegele, Corey Perry, Ryan McLeod et al. will have to dent the twine.
“Not every team has two superstars or even the top talent that we have,” Foegele said. “So, at the end of the day, all the team cares about are wins. I don’t think, really, anyone cares about who scores. Everyone wants to produce, but I’d rather keep playing than go golfing.”
AT HOME ON THE ROAD
After going 23-14-4 on the road during the regular season, the Canucks swept all three games in Nashville during their opening-round win against the Predators. They’re not afraid of a loud, hostile crowd for Games 3 and 4 in Edmonton.
“As much as the home crowd pushes you to be better … to make a play to shut the crowd down is a great feeling,” Canucks winger Dakota Joshua said. “There’s nothing like the building going silent when you’re getting the best of their team.
“Going into Nashville, that was a very tough building to play in. I think that we’ll be able to take all that confidence from doing well there into tonight.”
OILERS PP POWERS ON
One of the elements that makes the Oilers power play so good is that it’s not just a bunch of skill guys tossing the puck around the perimeter. They’ll outwork the penalty killers to keep pucks alive, and if you lose a couple of battles, you might not get a clear before the puck is behind your goalie.
“Our mindset is, work first and make plays off of that,” said Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the quiet bumper guy in this lethal fivesome. “A lot of times you’ve got to go get a puck if you lose a faceoff, and we play off of that. (Sometimes), when you strip a guy or out-man a guy, all of a sudden you get a lot of time. Someone’s opening up off of that.
“Then, sometimes, it’s about being patient. There’s a time to strike, and I think we’ve found that balance.”
Edmonton’s power play is a league-best 11-for-24, or 45.8 per cent this spring. In two games against the Canucks, it’s clipping along at 50 per cent (2-for-4), as the Canucks have managed to stay out of the box, for the most part.