STOCKHOLM -- Erik Karlsson had experienced it before, but that didn’t make it any less special.
After hearing his name announced in the starting lineup for the Pittsburgh Penguins against the Nashville Predators for the 2025 NHL Global Series Sweden presented by Fastenal at Avicii Arena on Friday, Karlsson soaked in the cheers of the fans in his home country and waved to thank them.
Then, Karlsson stood on the blue line next to his teammates and listened in awe to the fans singing the Swedish national anthem in unison. Those are the best memories the 35-year-old defenseman will take from this night, though it ended in disappointment for the Penguins with a 2-1 overtime loss.
“It’s, obviously, very cool,” Karlsson said. “I’ve been fortunate to play a few games in this arena and it’s a special feeling. A lot of big games have been played here for Sweden and otherwise, so you know it’s obviously a cool moment to have and to hear the Swedish national anthem as well is rare these days.
“So, I enjoy every moment I get to do it.”
Karlsson will get a chance to do it again when the Penguins try to rebound in the second game of the NHL Global Series at Avicii Arena on Sunday (9 a.m. ET; FDSNSO, SN-PIT, NHLN, SN) before heading back to Pittsburgh.
The Landsbro native played NHL games in Sweden previously with the Ottawa Senators when they faced the Colorado Avalanche in the 2017 NHL Global Series. Those two games had happier endings for Karlsson, though, with the Senators winning both.
Karlsson had four assists in the two games, including one on Mark Stone’s winning goal in a 4-3 overtime victory in the first one. This time, after fellow Swede Filip Forsberg tied the game for Nashville with 1:10 left in regulation, Karlsson tried in vain to catch Steven Stamkos from behind before he scored the winning goal 43 seconds into overtime.
“Obviously, in overtime, you never know how it’s going to go,” Karlsson said. “They got the first chance, we had the second chance and, unfortunately, they scored on the third. It stinks a little bit, but at the same time I think we all know in here that we have a put a better product of hockey on the ice for the most part of the season and tonight wasn’t our best.”
The Penguins (9-5-4) have been one of the NHL’s surprise teams this season, but they’ve won only one of their past six games (1-3-2) as a slew of injuries and recent struggles with closing out games have begun to catch up to them. They were in position to win this game mostly because of goalie Arturs Silovs (28 saves) and a fortunate bounce.
Evgeni Malkin’s goal that gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead at 13:49 of the second period resulted from an attempted pass from behind the net that deflected off the stick of Nashville forward Michael McCarron and bounced into the net off the back of goalie Juuse Saros. The Predators controlled play otherwise in outshooting the Penguins 12-2 in the second period.
“I think they came out in the second and had a way better second period than we did and I think it carried over a little bit in the third,” Karlsson said. “We created a little bit more maybe but couldn’t capitalize and it’s unfortunate that we couldn’t put it all together for 60 minutes.”
