Philadelphia. Fans back home in California held their breath.
After colliding with a pole, Leo Karlsson appeared to be injured in Anaheim’s game against the Flyers in Philadelphia.
– It was a slap on the same hip as last time and I felt the pain for a minute or so. But it went by quickly and poses no danger at all, says the successful 18-year-old rookie when Sportbladet meets him after a very entertaining 7-4 win.
It was at the end of the third period, when the afternoon drama at the Wells Fargo Center had long since been settled, that the young Carlson drove to one of his compatriot Samuel Ersson’s positions.
He then lay down for a while, before making his way into the cabin with what seemed like great effort.
– Yes, it was painful at the time, he says when we meet him in the dressing room afterwards.
– The slap hit the same damned hip as last time. But it passed quickly and posed no danger at all.
Already in the next change, Liu also returned to the ice with his friends in the Ducks’ excellent first series – Trevor Zegras and Troy Terry – and was able to enjoy what ended up being a 7-4 win.
– The team effort was good today, and it continues.
“My worst match so far”
– It’s good to be part of such a match, with so many goals. It’s not common, in the SHL it’s never 7-4.
The 18-year-old from Värmland did not score any new points for himself, but he once again showed a grit and audacity that you rarely see in completely green juniors.
– Well, it was probably my worst match so far, there are a lot of details to improve, but I still consider it fundamentally that it was a win, he says.
– I try to play as I always do and make sure I am big and have good speed in the middle. When you play with Zegras and Terry, you kind of get chances even if it’s a bad game. I could have stuck two or three today anyway.
A difficult evening for the citizen
The best of those came in the second half, but then Ersson made a great save on the afternoon.
– Yes, it was a really good save, praises to the Californian.
Otherwise he would have a hard time, Ersun. So many of Anaheim’s relatively few shots were taken for a while that the home crowd finally fell into derisive cheers when he blocked the simplest of pucks.
– It was a bit bad for him, but I don’t think he got much help, says Leo.
Popular Flyers coach John Tortorella agrees.
– That he had to endure such “Bronx ridicule”… This is nonsense. This wasn’t Sammy’s fault. “It wasn’t good, but neither were we,” she says.
For Anaheim, the long journey away in the East now continues with a game in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night, and if the club’s management isn’t too strict with its unorthodox ideas about carefully matching superlative Swedish talent during the start of the first season, it means we could see Karlsson vs. Karlsson next. .
– It will be fun, and I hope to play that match too, he explained.
There are more to hope for.