When Marc-Andre Fleury made his NHL debut in 2003, Macklin Celebrini wasn’t even born yet, as he came into the world almost three years later.
On Thursday, the two players created an interesting statistic when Celebrini, the youngest player in the NHL and a rising star for the San Jose Sharks, scored on Fleury, the league’s oldest player.
“Good for him,” Fleury said with a laugh when he was told about the stat.
Celebrini, the first overall pick in the NHL draft, scored twice in the Sharks’ 5-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild. At 18 years old, Celebrini is over 20 years younger than Fleury, who has been playing in the league for 21 years and has hinted that this will be his final season.
“He’s been in the league longer than I’ve been alive, so it’s been amazing to watch his career,” Celebrini said about Fleury. “Obviously, the runs he had with Pittsburgh and Vegas, and even him in Chicago and now Minnesota. He seems like a great personality, and it’s been fun to watch his off-ice antics as much as his on-ice.”
Celebrini’s first goal came when he was in the right place during a 3-on-2 rush. His second goal was a wrist shot that Fleury couldn’t stop – the puck zipped past Fleury’s glove, hit the crossbar, and went in.
The 18-year-old led the Sharks with seven shots on goal and had his second multi-point game in just three career games, making it his best performance so far.
“He’s got good awareness of where guys are at,” Fleury said. “He’s got a good shot. That last goal, I love. I wish I could get it back, but (it was) still good. Right at the bar above my head. I’ll be looking forward to watching him.”
Fleury also made history on Thursday by playing in his 1,029th career game, tying Patrick Roy for the most games played by a goaltender in NHL history.
He also won what might be his last game in San Jose, where he’s on an eight-game win streak at the Shark Tank. Fleury helped the Pittsburgh Penguins win the Stanley Cup in 2016, securing the championship in Game 6 in San Jose.
He said he’ll always remember the atmosphere at the arena.
“The atmosphere in the Tank is always good when the playoffs come around,” Fleury said. “It’s buzzing. Even in the regular season, they’ve had a good team for so many years while I was playing, and it was always a tough game coming in.”
