The Pittsburgh Penguins will take on the San Jose Sharks for the first time since acquiring Erik Karlsson.

For the first time since joining the Pittsburgh Penguins, future Hall of Fame defenseman Erik Karlsson is heading back to San Jose.

The Penguins have departed for their three-game California road trip, which kicks off against the San Jose Sharks.

Karlsson spent the last five seasons with the Sharks where he played in 293 games and scored a total of 243 points.

101 of those points came during the 2022-23 season when Karlsson picked up his third Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenseman.

Heading back to San Jose will be a joy for Karlsson and he’s happy it comes early in the season.

“It’s going to be nice to see a lot of familiar faces and meet a lot of people I haven’t seen in a while,” Karlsson said. “It’s also nice that it’s early in the season. We can kind of get it over with and move forward.”

The Sharks weren’t an outstanding team during some of Karlsson’s later years in San Jose, but when he first got there in 2018-19, they were a real threat.

That season, the Sharks made it all the way to the Western Conference Final, but lost to the eventual champions in the St. Louis Blues.

Karlsson says he remembers that run vividly, and will never forget Game 7 of the opening round against the Vegas Golden Knights.

“I think Game 7, first round against Vegas, when we came back,” Karlsson said. “That will something that will forever be in my memory, and one of the craziest games I’ve ever been a part of.”

In that game, the Sharks were losing 3-0 heading into the third period; a five-minute major and 10-minute misconduct penalty to a Golden Knights player pushed the door wide open for the Sharks to bounce.

The Sharks scored four goals on that five-minute advantage to take the lead, but the Golden Knights answered in the dying second to force overtime.

Late in the overtime period, Karlsson assisted on the game-winning goal.

“I got a lot of good memories there,” Karlsson said. “I’m hoping to create some more memories in that rink.”

The Penguins should have a relatively simple night against the Sharks as they are yet to collect a win on the 2023-24 season and just lost 10-1 to the Vancouver Canucks.

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