Born to Glory by Las Vegas Sun

Author:Las Vegas Sun
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Triumph Books
Published: 2018-06-11T16:00:00+00:00

Western Conference Semifinals: Game 3

Golden Knights 4, Sharks 3 (OT)

April 30, 2018 • San Jose, California

Star Turn

Karlsson Reaches Elite Status with Overtime Winner

By Jesse Granger

Golden Knights forward William Karlsson skated in on goaltender Martin Jones, waiting for him to make the first move.

Before Jones could blink, Karlsson flicked the puck past his blocker and into the net, silencing the sellout crowd of 17,562 inside SAP Center in San Jose as the Golden Knights topped the Sharks 4-3 in overtime to take a 2-1 series lead.

The overwhelming narrative of the Golden Knights’ season has painted the team as a pack of castaways who have rallied together and created something special despite their lack of a superstar player.

Whether that narrative was ever true can be argued (Marc-Andre Fleury might have something to say about that), but after Monday night’s overtime winner it’s definitely over because Karlsson is a superstar.

The 25-year-old Swede has continued his 43-goal breakout season into the playoffs, leading the Golden Knights in goals (4) and points (9), the most important of which came on a laser shot to give home ice advantage back to Vegas.

“Playoff hockey is where you get your notoriety,” defenseman Nate Schmidt said. “It’s where you become (known as) an elite level player around the league, and I think he’s making a name for himself. That’s for sure.”

Passing the puck never crossed Karlsson’s mind on the final play, and with good reason. He has displayed historically great shooting accuracy this season. Karlsson’s 23.4 shooting percentage is the highest for any player with at least 40 goals since 1994.

“I was behind him when he scored that goal, and you just see that type of thing,” Schmidt said. “He does it in practice, he does it in games, big situations like that and it’s incredible to watch him do that. It’s so cool to watch him play and watch him become the guy and the player that he has.”

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