Macklin Celebrini did everything he could Wednesday night to give the San Jose Sharks and his new friend, Luke Schumann, a victory over the Minnesota Wild.
The 18-year-old Celebrini was all over the ice as he recorded five points, including his first NHL hat trick, and assisted on Will Smith’s tying goal with under a minute left in regulation time.
But the Sharks simply could not slow down the Wild, as Kirill Kaprizov scored at the 1:01 mark of overtime to give the Wild an entertaining 8-7 win before an announced crowd of 18,675 at Xcel Energy Center.
“We kept going. We kept pushing,” Celebrini said. “We never really gave up, and I think that says a lot for our group.”
Celebrini now has 62 points on the season, a new record for a Sharks rookie. Pat Falloon held the former record of 59, set in the Sharks franchise’s first year in 1991-92.
Celebrini also became the first No. 1 overall draft pick to score three goals in a game during his rookie since Auston Matthews scored four in his NHL debut for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 12, 2016.
Smith also had a goal and a career-best three assists, and Celebrini and Nikolai Kovalenko, all rookies, combined for 10 points.
“We just got a good look at (the Sharks) future, didn’t we,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “Mack with one of his better games here as of late, and then (Smith) as well. (Kovalenko) really stepped up and has been good in that role.
“We just got a good look at the future.”
Celebrini’s second goal, his 23rd of the season, gave the Sharks a 4-3 lead at the 12:28 mark of the second period. But the Wild responded with power-play goals from Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek before the end of the second, with Eriksson Ek’s goal coming with 12 seconds before intermission, to take a 5-4 lead.
Eriksson Ek, playing his first game since Feb. 22, finished with four goals to help hand the Sharks their sixth straight loss. He added two goals in the first 2:06 of the third period, with the first coming on the power play, to give the Wild a 7-4 lead.
Celebrini assisted on Kovalenko’s goal at the 4:44 mark of the third period to cut the deficit to two. Celebrini then completed the hat trick at the 10:02 mark of the third off an assist from Smith.
Smith then scored his 17th of the season with 52 seconds left in regulation time, off an assist from Celebrini.
But the Sharks’ defense and penalty kill were disasters. The penalty kill went 1-for-4, and Sharks goalie Alexandar Georgiev allowed eight goals on 44 shots in San Jose’s sour start to a four-game road trip that continues Friday in Edmonton against the Oilers.
Tyler Toffoli and Carl Grundstrom also scored for the Sharks, who also saw defenseman Mario Ferraro leave the game near the end of the second period with a lower-body injury. Ferraro crumpled to the ice after he blocked a shot by Matt Boldy with his ankle just before Eriksson Ek’s second goal. He did not return. Warsofsky didn’t have an update on Ferraro’s health after the game.
Last Friday, Celebrini met Schumann, a Make-A-Wish kid who was diagnosed with a rare form of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (Nodular Lymphocyte Predominant Hodgkin). His parents, John and Lindsey, discovered a lump under his armpit on May 14, 2024, a day before he turned 5 years old, and Luke soon had to undergo surgery to remove the tumor, followed by chemotherapy treatments throughout the summer.
The two spent two days together last week as Schumann and his family saw the Sharks lose to the Seattle Kraken 5-1. Schumann, whose family lives in Lakeville, Minnesota, was in 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 said. “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 game likely marked the last time the Sharks will face Hall of Fame-bound goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who is presumably set to retire after the season. In 29 career games against the Sharks, Fleury, before Wednesday, had a 20-5-4 record with a .940 save percentage and three shutouts.
Just this season, in two games against the Sharks, Fleury was 2-0-0 with a .952 save percentage. On Wednesday, Fleury made 24 saves on 31 shots.
The Sharks got to Fleury at the 12:11 mark of the first period, as William Eklund took a pass from Alexander Wennberg and fed it out front to Toffoli, who beat the 40-year-old goalie glove side from the slot for his 29th goal of the season.
The Wild scored twice before the end of the first period to take the lead.
After left-shot Sharks defenseman Henry Thrun broke his stick and played with right-shot Toffoli’s stick, Marcus Johansson took a pass from Frederick Gaudreau and beat Sharks goalie Alexander Georgiev with a shot from 40 feet out at the 14:16 mark of the first. Brock Faber then scored at the 18:48 mark.