Erik Karlsson's regular-season debut with Penguins a mixed bag

In his first regular-season game with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday, Erik Karlsson led his new club in ice time (26 minutes, 4 seconds), manned the point on the top power-play unit and had a number of offensive moments befitting his reputation.

He also was on the ice for three goals against in a 4-2 loss to Chicago as the Penguins allowed four unanswered goals in a deflating season opener at PPG Paints Arena. When he was on the ice five on five, the Penguins were outshot 20-14.

“The journey has just begun, but it’s unfortunate that we couldn’t win today when I felt like this was a winnable game for us,” he said.

Karlsson’s regular-season debut proved to be a mixed bag.

He recorded two shots on goal and was second on the team with three blocked shots.

He played 2:40 on the power play and also played 54 seconds on the penalty kill.

Karlsson’s first shot on goal seemed almost too good not to have resulted in a goal.

With the Penguins on the power play in the opening period, Karlsson took possession of the puck after Evgeni Malkin won a faceoff in the Blackhawks’ zone.

Simultaneously, Chicago’s Cole Guttman made an aggressive dash toward Karlsson at the blue line.

But Karlsson shook him with some slick stick work and moved into the middle of the slot, where he ripped a snap shot at Petr Mrazek from 30 feet. However, the Blackhawks netminder made a glove save.

Erik Karlsson with the moves ????#LetsGoPens | #NHLFaceoff pic.twitter.com/GCWVIGnAS2

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Later in the first period, Karlsson joined Bryan Rust and Sidney Crosby on an odd-man rush.

After Rust did a near-360-degree spin at center ice to get the puck up to Crosby, the Penguins captain moved through the left faceoff circle before sending a pass to Karlsson, who had crashed the net.

Crosby’s pass was slightly off the mark, hitting Karlsson’s skate, preventing a scoring chance.

Karlsson coming up empty on two promising opportunities was emblematic of a deeper issue Tuesday for the Penguins, who registered 40 shots and were 0 for 2 on the power play.

“We had our fair amount of chances to score some goals, as well, and we did not,” Karlsson said.

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Karlsson played alongside Marcus Pettersson, as had been the case throughout training camp and preseason games.

How Karlsson and Kris Letang would be deployed with the Penguins forwards was more uncertain going into the season opener.

Per Natural Stat Trick, Karlsson shared the ice with Crosby for 7:18 and with Malkin for 5:49.

Letang skated with Malkin for 8:34 and Crosby for 6:07.

Coach Mike Sullivan indicated postgame those numbers will be fluid.

“They’re going to get some time behind both (Crosby) and (Malkin),” Sullivan said. “We think over the course of time, they’ll develop some chemistry. We always game plan going in how we’re going to utilize those guys and put them in positions to succeed and play to their strengths.”

Karlsson was not around last season, when the Penguins dropped nine games when leading after two periods. That was tied with the Rangers for most in the NHL.

Now, just one night into the 2023-24 season, the Penguins have suffered their first such defeat of the year.

“We definitely have some things to work on now, so we look forward to doing that,” Karlsson said.