Have yourself a game, Lucas Carlsson.
The 27-year-old defenseman hadn’t played an NHL game in more than two years, battling through injuries, including a torn ACL in February 2024. He wasn’t sure if he would ever play in the NHL again, but last night he was the best player on the ice for the San Jose Sharks.
Looking at the player card from Hockey Stat Cards, you can see that Carlsson was impactful defensively and offensively.
The defenseman scored a goal and added an assist on Barclay Goodrow’s empty netter to seal the 3-1 win for the Sharks over the visiting Boston Bruins.
The goal that he scored led to a jubilant hug from Macklin Celebrini and the rest of the Sharks on the ice.
Lucas Carlsson scores in his @SanJoseSharks debut! 🦈
— NHL (@NHL) March 23, 2025
The Sharks have the lead in the third period! pic.twitter.com/akbckU5Rg9
Carlsson’s goal stood up as the game winning goal. After the game, he didn’t have much to say about the play.
“I saw something happening in front of the net and I dove down and I got the puck on my stick, so I just, try and score,” said Carlsson.
For Carlsson, the return to the NHL could not have been better.
“It’s been tough the last 10 months, but now I feel so much better. I’m in a good place right now,” said Carlsson. “I’ve doubted myself the last year, so it was just so much fun to be playing at this level again and try to make a difference here.”
Carlsson was paired with Timothy Liljegren for the night. Carlsson finished the game with 18:18 of ice time, two shots, one hit and one blocked shot.
Creating an identity
One of the things that General Manager Mike Grier talked about when he traded Fabian Zetterlund was creating an identity for the team. For Grier, it’s not just about the top-scoring forwards but also the role players who are going to help the team shape an identity.
With players like Patrick Giles, Carl Grundstrom, Zack Ostapchuk and Barclay Goodrow, it is clear that the identity is a team that is fast, difficult to play against down low and not afraid to lay a hit. That mindset is trickling up to the high-end players.
Grundstrom led the team with three hits last night. The other player with three hits was none other than Celebrini.
Celebrini was also involved in a bit of pushing and shoving at the net after the Bruins took exception to Will Smith sniffing around a potential rebound at the net.
And then there was Goodrow, who dropped the gloves with Jakub Lauko in the first period.
Barclay Goodrow vs Jakub Lauko pic.twitter.com/rl2PlibWW5
— JD Young (@MyFryHole) March 23, 2025
Scoring summary Boston Bruins at San Jose Sharks March 22, 2025
First Period
No scoring
Second Period
2:13 SJS William Eklund from Macklin Celebrini and Luca Cagnoni
16:50 BOS Casey Mittelstadt from Cole Koepke
Third Period
16:37 SJS Lucas Carlsson from Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini
19:10 SJS Barclay Goodrow from William Eklund and Lucas Carlsson into the empty net
