Erik Karlsson and Timo Meier were both in the San Jose Sharks’ lineup Sunday for their afternoon game with the Washington Capitals. Both, from all indications, will be on the team’s charter flight back home after the game.
That in and of itself might be noteworthy considering the level of speculation that surrounds both players with the NHL’s trade deadline less than three weeks away.
For now, though, the Sharks still have both guys on their side, and they finished off a three-week stretch of road games with a 4-1 win over Washington at Capital One Arena.
Karlsson scored in the third period and assisted on goals by Evgeny Svechnikov and Alexander Barabanov, and Aaron Dell made eight saves in relief of an injured Kaapo Kahkonen as the Sharks wrapped up an eight-game spell away from home with a 3-3-2 record.
The Sharks played at Columbus, Boston, Detroit, Carolina, and Pittsburgh on a five-game road trip before the NHL’s All-Star Game on Feb. 4, and faced Tampa Bay and Florida earlier in the week before they came to Washington, D.C.
Kahkonen was removed from the game by the NHL’s concussion spotter at the 2:56 mark of the second period.
Just eight seconds earlier, Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov took a pass from Erik Gustafsson, skated around Scott Harrington, and made contact with Kahkonen’s head as he skated near the crease and scored his eighth goal of the season.
Dell replaced Kahkonen for the rest of the second period and into the third, as he played his first NHL game since Dec. 4. He was recalled from the San Jose Barracuda, the Sharks’ AHL affiliate, on Saturday after James Reimer came down with what was described by coach David Quinn as a minor illness.
Karlsson now has 73 points – 18 goals and 55 assists – in 54 games. The Sharks next play the Pittsburgh Penguins at home on Tuesday.
Reports emerged Saturday that the Sharks and Edmonton Oilers have re-engaged in trade talks after the two teams spoke about a possible Karlsson deal last month. For a Karlsson-to-Edmonton deal to work mathematically from a salary cap standpoint, the Sharks would have to retain between $4-5 million of the defenseman’s $11.5 million cap hit.
Meier didn’t get on the scoresheet Sunday but had a team-leading 30 goals in 54 games.
“When you look at the guys everyone’s talking about,” Quinn said Sunday when asked about the trade deadline, “they continue to do the things they’ve done all year. They haven’t slowed down one bit.”
