This is just an embarrassingly bad play by the young Ottawa Senators defenseman. Buffalo Sabres forward Patrick Kaleta barely touched Erik Karlsson’s back with his stick, and Karlsson went down like he’d been hit in the face. He even tried to sell it hard by taking a long time to get up. Not only was this a horrible dive by Karlsson, but what on Earth was the referee watching? He was right there and could clearly see that nothing had happened, yet he called Kaleta for a high-stick. Sure, you could make an argument that his stick shouldn’t be up that high, but seriously? He hardly touched him.
Last year, Erik Karlsson won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman. Karlsson has continued his great play this season, with 10 points through 13 games with a +6 rating. Ottawa is currently in 5th place in the Eastern Conference, and have gotten off to a good start so far. Hopefully Karlsson will stop diving before he loses too much respect around the league.
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