The San Jose Sharks ended a month’s worth of frustration on Thursday as Will Smith scored at the 1:37 mark of overtime to give his team a thrilling 6-5 win over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
Macklin Celebrini recorded his second career NHL hat trick and matched a career-high with five points, making a key play on Smith’s overtime winner, which set off a wild celebration for the previously winless Sharks (1-4-2).
On the winning goal, Celebrini stole the puck from defensemen Braden Schneider in the corner to the left of the Rangers, took a stride, and fed Smith with a cross-ice pass for a one-timer that beat goalie Igor Shesterkin.
Smith’s first goal of the game, and his season, came in the third period, right after a Sharks power play had expired. Immediately after a William Eklund shot attempt from close range, Smith controlled the loose puck and scored with 13:29 left in regulation time to give the Sharks a 5-4 lead.
Taylor Raddysh completed his own hat-trick with 8:10 left to go in the third period to tie the game 5-5. Still, Celebrini wasn’t going to be denied, as he scored twice in the first period and completed the hat trick with 8.3 seconds left in the second, taking a pass from Smith and beating Shesterkin to tie the game 4-4.
Celebrini’s first career hat trick came at the end of his rookie season on April 9 against the Minnesota Wild. He also had two assists in that game in an 8-7 loss to the host Wild.
With his performance on Thursday, Celebrini, 19, became just the third NHL player in the past 32 years with multiple hat tricks as a teenager.
Center Adam Gaudette also scored for the Sharks, Eklund had three assists, and goalie Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 22 of 27 shots.
The Sharks next play the New Jersey Devils on Friday in the third game of a four-game road trip that ends Sunday in Minnesota.
Thursday’s game began with a bang — in more ways than one.
Gaudette and Celebrini both scored first-period goals, with Celebrini’s goal at the 6:17 mark giving the Sharks a 2-0 lead. Just before Celebrini’s goal, Sharks winger Ryan Reaves and Rangers forward Matt Rempe renewed acquaintances in a fight between two of the NHL’s true heavyweights.
Reaves, listed at 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds, landed at least two big right hands while Rempe, at 6-foot-9 and 261 pounds, used his longer reach to connect with a few left hands. Rempe ended the right with a few short rights from close range after he and Reaves came together.
Reaves and Rempe are no strangers to one another. The two also fought on March 2, 2024, when Reaves was with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The fight was Reaves’ second this season and Rempe’s first. Reaves also fought Anaheim’s Ross Johnston on Oct. 11.
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