Karlsson struggles in lopsided loss, Sullivan seethes over 'a few guys'

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Mike Sullivan has never been one to publicly call out his players. That's not changing anytime soon.

But he came as close as it gets following the Penguins' 5-1 loss to the Hurricanes here at the Lenovo Center on Thursday night.

"I thought we had a lot of guys who played really hard and didn't get rewarded for their efforts," Sullivan said. "I think there were a few guys that didn't live up to the expectation. It's hard. We need everybody to bring it every night to give ourselves the best chance to win."

Asked to clarify if he was questioning the efforts of some of his players, he reiterated, "I thought a lot of the group tonight played extremely hard."

The key phrase there is "a lot" -- not all. There's no way of knowing who Sullivan had in mind but, if any player would've deserved to be singled out, it's Erik Karlsson.

The Hurricanes won this game in the first period: Jordan Martinook scored on a redirect only 52 seconds in, and Jack Roslovic doubled the lead before intermission. Roslovic added another in the second, followed soon by Jaccob Slavin to extend the lead to four. Eric Robinson made it 5-0 in the third, and Blake Lizotte snapped Pyotr Kochetkov's shutout bid off a fantastic setup by Jesse Puljujarvi but, by then, it was long over.

The Penguins' second defense pairing of Karlsson and Marcus Pettersson was on the ice for the first three Carolina goals, but just watch No. 65 in these:

Slow getting back, and just no effort from there.

Same thing. Sebastian Aho just blows past him after he hesitates in the neutral zone.

That one's not on Karlsson, at least. Just the rotten cherry on top.

I asked Karlsson how he felt about his own game after the loss, and he replied, "Not bad," before elaborating a bit.

"It's unfortunate, sometimes," he told me. "It's tough sometimes when your first shift, they score on the play, and it starts snowballing the other way. It's just one of those days where you've got to keep your head down and try and be in the right position at all times. Even if you're just a little off, sometimes it doesn't go your way. That's just one of those nights. I've had many of them, and I'm sure I've had some more. I've just got to figure out a way to control them.”

The Penguins need Karlsson to be better, and that's been true all season. Some numbers to illustrate things, with these being per-60-minutes stats at five-on-five:

Shot attempts against: 62.86 (third-most among Penguins defensemen)

Unblocked shot attempts against: 47.15 (second-most among Penguins defensemen)

Shots against: 32.98 (third-most among Penguins defensemen)

Goals against: 3.98 (third-most among Penguins defensemen)

In all situations, Karlsson also leads the team with 5.53 giveaways per 60 minutes. NHL-wide, among defensemen with at least 100 minutes played, that figure ranks 14th. Generally, offensive defensemen are at the top of the leaderboards for the giveaway stats. It's just an inherent risk that comes with being a playmaker. But with a goal and seven assists through 15 games, the Penguins aren't getting the offense out of Karlsson to compensate for the mistakes.

Kyle Dubas spoke about Karlsson prior to Thursday's game when he went on the team's 'GM Show' with Josh Getzoff, and said that he'd been "quite happy" with Karlsson as of late.

"I think in the last week, he started to get back to playing the game the way that he's really capable," Dubas said. "Obviously, I think he missed the preseason and missed training camp, and so you expect that there's probably going to be some delay. ...  I think what you see here the last stretch, he's skating more, he's accepted a role that's not common on the power play, playing the flank. And I think in the last stretch of games, he's starting to with his conditioning level, rediscover his form, skating the puck much better, and defending much better. And he's a special talent and a special player."

That emphasis in praise in "skating the puck" with Karlsson is significant, given that it's something that especially irked Dubas last season when it came to Karlsson. And it can be true that he's been trending in the right direction, for the most part, but Thursday saw a swing in the other direction. Regardless of the defense, it's hard to beat the Hurricanes when Lizotte's the only guy to beat Kochetkov on 36 shots. But the Penguins also put themselves in a hole early that was always going to be tough to overcome, and Karlsson had a huge hand in that.

It's tough to say what the answer is. Sure, Karlsson could sit. It'd be a bold move. But the result would be one of Jack St. Ivany or Ryan Shea moving into the top-four, with Shea on his off-side at that. Even if the Penguins had the cap space for a recall -- they currently don't, given the number of players injured but not injured enough for long-term injured reserve -- there aren't better options in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, where five defensemen are out with injuries. Benching Karlsson, obviously, isn't a long-term option, either. A trade is likely out of the question, too, as he has a full no-movement clause. Even assuming he'd waive it for a contender, there probably aren't too many contenders who both have a spot and a desire for Karlsson, while also having the cap space to take on even half of his $10 million cap hit for the next three years.

The ideal answer for the Penguins is for Karlsson to just be better. He doesn't need to be the 100-point Norris Trophy defenseman he was in his last year in San Jose before the trade. Nobody is expecting that out of him, and the Penguins sure weren't when they got him. But they do need more offensively, and they need a whole lot more defensively. Otherwise, nights like this will become commonplace.