The San Jose Sharks, led by center Macklin Celebrini, put together one of their most complete road efforts of the season on Sunday.
Defenseman John Klingberg and center Alexander Wennberg both scored second-period goals, Celebrini had a goal and two assists, and goalie Alex Nedeljkovic finished with 29 saves to help the Sharks earn an impressive 4-1 win over the host Carolina Hurricanes to snap a five-game road losing streak.
Celebrini, playing his 100th career NHL game, assisted on goals by Collin Graf and Klingberg before he scored his 15th of the season on an empty-net with 1:20 left in regulation time. It was Celebrini’s 12th multi-point game of the season as the Sharks earned their first win away from home since beating the Minnesota Wild 2-1 in overtime on Nov. 11.
Celebrini assisted on Graf’s goal 33 seconds into the first period, and also worked a give-and-go with Klingberg, whose even-strength goal at the 7:54 mark of the second period gave the Sharks a 2-1 lead.
Wennberg then gave the Sharks a 3-1 lead at the 15:44 mark of the second. William Eklund, in his 200th NHL game, took a pass from Klingberg and put a shot on net that Hurricanes goalie Pyotr Kochetkov stopped, but Wennberg scored his sixth of the season on the rebound.
That was enough offense for Nedeljkovic, who made 16 saves in the third period for his first win since Nov. 7, when he stopped 32 of 33 shots in the Sharks’ 2-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets. In five games since, Nedeljkovic was 0-3-0 with a .870 save percentage as Yaroslav Askarov established himself as the Sharks’ No. 1 goalie.
The Sharks (14-13-3) were coming off a 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars on Friday, in which they allowed three goals in the third period. In their last five away games before Sunday, the Sharks were 0-5-0 while being outscored 20-5.
The Sharks’ road trip continues next week with games in Philadelphia on Tuesday, Toronto on Thursday, and Pittsburgh on Saturday.