The San Jose Sharks are improving, thanks to the play of Macklin Celebrini, and the rookie star will head east this week.
Celebrini, who was named the NHL’s First Star of the Week and the November Rookie of the Month, along with the Sharks, will visit Florida for the first time this season, starting with a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night.
The Sharks began their six-game road trip with a 4-2 win over the Seattle Kraken on Nov. 30. They ended the month with a 6-6-3 record, showing clear signs of improvement for a team that has struggled recently in the Pacific Division.
Celebrini, who has been a major factor in the team’s progress, is the main reason for the optimism surrounding the Sharks.
After the team left for the east coast, the No. 1 overall pick in June’s NHL draft, who had just turned 18 two weeks before, made an impact in the Sharks’ 2-1 overtime win against the Washington Capitals. Celebrini assisted on William Eklund’s power-play goal 39 seconds into overtime, helping the Sharks earn points in five of their last seven games (4-2-1).
Celebrini is receiving a lot of attention as the Sharks improve, and he’s certainly earned it.
In mid-November, the 6-foot, 190-pound center was leading the NHL in puck-battle wins among forwards, ranked 20th in loose-puck recoveries, and was 26th in blocked passes. He was also fifth in beating defenders one-on-one with open-ice dekes. So far, Celebrini has scored eight goals and added seven assists in 16 games.
“He’s not afraid to stick his nose in there, and that’s extremely impressive for an 18-year-old in the National Hockey League to go up against some bigger guys,” said Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky. “He puts his nose in there, and he fights for pucks and I think that’s the competitiveness that he has.”
The Tampa Bay Lightning showed resilience but lost 5-3 to the Toronto Maple Leafs at home on Saturday.
Toronto dominated the first two periods, scoring four goals, and it seemed like the game would end with goaltender Joseph Woll earning his second shutout in three starts. However, Tampa Bay fought back with goals from Michael Eyssimont, Jake Guentzel, and Cam Atkinson in the last part of the third period, making it a one-goal game.
But William Nylander of Toronto scored with 1:16 left, sealing the win for the Leafs and leaving the Lightning with a disappointing 5-6-2 record for November and an 0-3-0 mark against teams in their Atlantic Division.
“We got down there (3-0) and got into a little lull,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper after Toronto scored twice in 33 seconds. “You don’t want to see that in your team, but in a way it’s understandable. A little frustration had set in.
“I think we gave ourselves a chance. I didn’t think we played poorly, and we gave ourselves ample chances to score. … It’s tough when we had our looks and couldn’t score, (then) they had their looks and scored. But there’s no moral victories in this game.”
Nick Paul, who has missed the last six games, and Nikita Kucherov, who sat out the game against the Leafs, both participated in regular practice on Wednesday.
