Whether his performance was good enough to win and how good his performance was are independent of one another. The greatest individual performance of all time might not be enough to win, because hockey is a team sport. Like I said, I think we're done. this isn't going anywhere it seems, and we're getting off topic.
On topic, imo the difference between Karlsson and Lidstrom boils down to consistency.
Lidstrom was always playing at or near peak performance. you new exactly what you'd get from him every night.
Karlsson has been far more up and down, partially thanks to injuries mind you. At his best (like last years playoffs) He's been an absolute for on both ends of the ice, and certainly is in the discussion with Lidstrom. But, when he's off, it's not close, even if his offense is still out of this world.
This season, he simply hasn't been himself. I though his performance was better last season, and it's not particularly close (even though the team is doing better, and he's scoring more points, funny that). Hopefully he can work through whatever is bothering him (missed training camp, says his ankle still doesn't feel the same and his pivots look awkward at times, decision making has been questionable some games and a bad flu seems to be going through the room and he's the latest victim). If he cleans those issues up, I'll be ready to discuss him in relation to Lidstrom, but at this moment, he's more in Leetch or Gonchar on steroids territory.