Macklin Celebrini did all the pieces he might Wednesday evening to present the San Jose Sharks and his new buddy, Luke Schumann, a victory over the Minnesota Wild.
The 18-year-old Celebrini was all around the ice as he recorded 5 factors, together with his first NHL hat trick, and assisted on Will Smith’s tying purpose with underneath a minute left in regulation time.
However the Sharks merely couldn’t decelerate the Wild, as Kirill Kaprizov scored on the 1:01 mark of additional time to present the Wild an entertaining 8-7 win earlier than an introduced crowd of 18,675 at Xcel Vitality Heart.
“We kept going. We kept pushing,” Celebrini mentioned. “We never really gave up, and I think that says a lot for our group.”
Celebrini now has 62 factors on the season, a brand new file for a Sharks rookie. Pat Falloon held the previous file of 59, set within the Sharks franchise’s first yr in 1991-92.
Celebrini additionally grew to become the primary No. 1 total draft choose to attain three targets in a sport throughout his rookie since Auston Matthews scored 4 in his NHL debut for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 12, 2016.
Smith additionally had a purpose and a career-best three assists, and Celebrini and Nikolai Kovalenko, all rookies, mixed for 10 factors.
“We just got a good look at (the Sharks) future, didn’t we,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky mentioned. “Mack with one among his higher video games right here as of late, after which (Smith) as nicely. (Kovalenko) actually stepped up and has been good in that position.
“We just got a good look at the future.”
Celebrini’s second purpose, his twenty third of the season, gave the Sharks a 4-3 lead on the 12:28 mark of the second interval. However the Wild responded with power-play targets from Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek earlier than the top of the second, with Eriksson Ek’s purpose coming with 12 seconds earlier than intermission, to take a 5-4 lead.
Eriksson Ek, taking part in his first sport since Feb. 22, completed with 4 targets to assist hand the Sharks their seventh straight loss. He added two targets within the first 2:06 of the third interval, with the primary approaching the facility play, to present the Wild a 7-4 lead.
Celebrini assisted on Kovalenko’s purpose on the 4:44 mark of the third interval to chop the deficit to 2. Celebrini then accomplished the hat trick on the 10:02 mark of the third off an help from Smith.
Smith then scored his seventeenth of the season with 52 seconds left in regulation time, off an help from Celebrini.
However the Sharks’ protection and penalty kill have been disasters. The penalty kill went 1-for-4, and Sharks goalie Alexandar Georgiev allowed eight targets on 44 pictures in San Jose’s bitter begin to a four-game street journey that continues Friday in Edmonton towards the Oilers.
“It’s not rocket science. You can’t give up eight goals and win in this league,” Warsofsky mentioned. “We’ve got to look at it, we’ve got to get better (protecting the middle of the ice), something that we’ve really harped on.”
Tyler Toffoli and Carl Grundstrom additionally scored for the Sharks, who additionally noticed defenseman Mario Ferraro go away the sport close to the top of the second interval with a lower-body harm. Ferraro crumpled to the ice after he blocked a shot by Matt Boldy along with his ankle simply earlier than Eriksson Ek’s second purpose. He didn’t return. Warsofsky didn’t have an replace on Ferraro’s well being after the sport.
Final Friday, Celebrini met Schumann, a Make-A-Want child who was identified with a uncommon type of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (Nodular Lymphocyte Predominant Hodgkin). His dad and mom, John and Lindsey, found a lump underneath his armpit on Might 14, 2024, a day earlier than he turned 5 years previous, and Luke quickly needed to endure surgical procedure to take away the tumor, adopted by chemotherapy remedies all through the summer time.
Schumann needed to fulfill Celebrini, his favourite participant, and hang around with the Sharks, his favourite group.
The 2 spent two days collectively final week as Schumann and his household noticed the Sharks lose to the Seattle Kraken 5-1. Schumann, whose household lives in Lakeville, Minnesota, was within the crowd on Wednesday.
“He had a great trip out. We had a lot of fun together on the ice, and getting to know him and his family was a great experience, and something I remember for a very long time,” Celebrini mentioned. “For him to be here tonight, and kind of experience that game, I think it was a little bit better than the Seattle game.”
Wednesday’s sport possible marked the final time the Sharks will face Corridor of Fame-bound goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who’s presumably set to retire after the season. In 29 profession video games towards the Sharks, Fleury, earlier than Wednesday, had a 20-5-4 file with a .940 save proportion and three shutouts.
Simply this season, in two video games towards the Sharks, Fleury was 2-0-0 with a .952 save proportion. On Wednesday, Fleury made 24 saves on 31 pictures.
The Sharks acquired to Fleury on the 12:11 mark of the primary interval, as William Eklund took a cross from Alexander Wennberg and fed it out entrance to Toffoli, who beat the 40-year-old goalie glove aspect from the slot for his twenty ninth purpose of the season.
The Wild scored twice earlier than the top of the primary interval to take the lead.
After left-shot Sharks defenseman Henry Thrun broke his stick and performed with right-shot Toffoli’s stick, Marcus Johansson took a cross from Frederick Gaudreau and beat Sharks goalie Alexander Georgiev with a shot from 40 toes out on the 14:16 mark of the primary. Brock Faber then scored on the 18:48 mark.
Initially Printed: April 9, 2025 at 8:04 PM PDT
