Sharks Locker Room: Reimer Celebrates 200th Victory, Quinn Doesn’t Want To Imagine Life Without Karlsson

That was different.

For once, it was the San Jose Sharks rallying to stun a team, and a very good one at that, the Western Conference-leading Dallas Stars.

Down 3-0, the Sharks scored five unanswered goals for just their fifth win at SAP Center this season.

After the game, Timo Meier talked about the message on the bench after the Sharks got down, Erik Karlsson spoke on how San Jose improved their 5-on-6 defending tonight as opposed to the New Jersey Devils loss, James Reimer celebrated his 200th career victory and shared his thoughts about Karlsson’s defensive game, and head coach David Quinn talked about tanking, meeting Will Clark, Ryan Warsofsky taking a puck to the face, and life potentially without Erik Karlsson.

Timo Meier, on the San Jose Sharks’ stirring victory:

We showed a lot of character there. We’ve been through a lot as a group this season. We keep on battling. I think that just kind of shows what type of group this is. I think we can be really, really proud of this win tonight. It was a solid effort.

Starting the game, sometimes you don’t have your legs whatsoever. But tonight, we just found a way and we grinded as a team. We found a way to win this game and it definitely feels good. It would have been easy to quit at 3-nothing.

Meier, on message on Sharks bench when they got down:

Well, just to keep going. The first 10 minutes, we had a little bit of a slow start. But then we found a way to show character and battle ourselves back into the game.

Meier, on his power play goal:

We’re trying to obviously roll and take advantage of their guy [who] broke their stick. I think they gave [a stick] to the D, I don’t think it was the right side to have the stick. You just try to roll and take advantage of the guy who doesn’t have a stick.

My look was to Logan there back door, just kind of a lucky bounce. But sometimes, you got to be patient and find the option, and we did that.

Erik Karlsson, on how good this victory feels for the San Jose Sharks room:

Guys are doing a good job and showing up everyday.

It’s not easy when you’re not winning as much as you want to. But I feel like everybody’s always here every morning, bright and early, with a good attitude and a will to play good hockey. If everybody wasn’t doing that, no one could have any success.

Just appreciate everybody else sticking with it and trying to make the best out of the situation that we’re in.

Karlsson, on how San Jose Sharks defended 5-on-6 tonight as opposed to against the Devils:

You just have to be a little bit more aggressive when they’re on the perimeter, not having full control of the puck. We’re not giving them easy plays, waiting for that opportunity to shoot it when they want to. Today we did a great job. We kept a little more pace.

Karlsson, on if he feels he’s at the peak of his offensive powers right now:

It’s tough to say. Guys are doing a good job sticking with it, playing a style of hockey that we feel we need to play to be successful.

Karlsson has had nine 4-point games in his career – FOUR of them this season.

For #GoSensGo: 2/20/12, 10/14/15, 2/6/16, 12/5/16
For #SJSharks: 12/29/18, 11/1/22, 11/17/22, 12/22/22, 1/18/22

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 19, 2023

James Reimer, on his 200th career victory:

I beat Minny going into the break, I was like one away, right?

Honestly, I forgot about it for probably a week and a half or so.
Somebody reminded me. It got my attention, oh crap, I’m stuck at 199. Then it’s kind of stuck in your head for a bit, right?

But honestly, I’ve lost a few in a row, and I was just more interested in a win to right the ship a bit as opposed to the overall wins. But it’s nice to get.

Reimer, on Karlsson’s game:

I don’t know if I would say his defensive game has been as good as his offensive, simply because his offensive prowess this year has been the best in the league. But the way he’s defending too, the way he’s skating, and pushing guys around. His defensive game has been really impressive.

Reimer, on what he saw in front of him 5-on-6 tonight as opposed to New Jersey:

I thought we were aggressive, and we tried to dictate the play.

Kind of more, I don’t want to say, like our PK, but we felt like we had a purpose. Guys knew their assignments and we went after them and tried to force them to make plays instead of just sitting back and kind of just trying to protect.

(See the San Jose Sharks’ videos of Erik Karlsson and James Reimer’s interviews here, my recording was drowned out a little by Will Clark coming into the locker room)

David Quinn, on Ryan Warsofsky taking a puck to the face:

Quickly, I was worried. At the end of the period, we’re able to get in there right away. We knew that he was OK, he was gonna come back. I actually think he put his head in the way because it was a TNT game. Good move by him.

Warsofsky Leaves Game After Taking Puck to Face

Quinn, on Karlsson’s performance:

I know the points look the way they do and that’s what he always does, but just go watch what happened on that 6-on-5.

He was determined to make sure that we weren’t going to give up a goal, the way he defended and how hard he competed.

I can’t say enough great things about him. Not only what you see from a statistical standpoint, but I love coaching him.

He’s a smart guy. He’s a smart guy. He wants to win. He’s just a special player.

Quinn, on imagining the San Jose Sharks without Karlsson:

I don’t want to imagine this team without him. Why you gonna do that to me?

Quinn, on what the San Jose Sharks did right 5-on-6 defensively:

I thought we had an attitude.

I went back and looked at the 6-on-5 we had against Minnesota which was so effective. And if you just compare that to what we did against New Jersey, there was this feeling of oh no.

And tonight, there was no feeling, I felt very confident that we were going to get through that 6-on-5. It was an attitude. It’s just an attitude. You got to have swagger and an opportunity to pressure people and swarm. When they took the shot and the puck went into the corner, we got on it.

Whereas against New Jersey, we left one guy all alone fighting three Devils and they ended up scoring the tying goal.

We learned our lesson.

Quinn, on meeting Will Clark, who’s been at the Sharks’ last two games:

One of my all-time favorites. Even though I’m a Red Sox fan.

That silky-smooth left swing. Just had a great swagger about him. It was a thrill to meet him.

I told him he’s coming back every day. He should be on the flight to Columbus here on Friday.

Quinn, on if this win changes the San Jose Sharks’ perspective on tanking:

Tanking? Nobody’s tanking. I can guarantee you that.

Quinn told me he has a Bud or Coors Light after most games — to celebrate a win? "I'm going to have three of them tonight. I usually quit at two."

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) January 19, 2023