Celebrini's five-point night, including a hat trick and OT winner, powers Sharks to thrilling first victory. A turning point for San Jose.
The San Jose Sharks have finally done it, they've won their first game of the 2025-26 season.
After dropping 18 straight games dating back to last season and the first six of this season, they found a way to win, largely on the back of their young phenom Macklin Celebrini.
Celebrini scored a hat trick and collected five points last night. His first goal came in the first period, just six minutes in when he scored on the power play to give the Sharks a 2-0 lead.
His second goal was scored with less than 10 seconds left in the period, on a goal assisted by Will Smith and William Eklund. His third goal came in the second, with just six seconds left, which was another one assisted by Smith.
He also picked up assists on both Smith's goals, one in the third period and then the game-winning goal in overtime.
With his five-point night, Celebrini becomes just the fourth teenager in NHL history with multiple five-point games in his career. He is in some elite company with one of the greatest of all time, Wayne Gretzky, as well as Dale Hawerchuk and Bryan Trottier. What a great group of players to have his name beside.
This is exactly the type of game that the Sharks needed to turn things around. No, I'm not saying they are going to go on a five-game winning streak. But this game likely built up some players’ confidence, including Celebrini, Smith, and Eklund, who all had great nights.
After the game, Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky had this to say.
"They live for this type of moment, at MSG. They're competitive. But I think if you put them on a pond in rural Boston they'd be just as excited to play and go compete. That's what's special about them, they're ultra-competitive. They're driven and nothing really rattles them. They just keep going and playing. I think Macklin had a great game against the Islanders (on Tuesday) and I think he one-upped it tonight, as did Will."
When Celebrini met with the media, he talked about how much fun it was to win on the road at MSG.
"It's fun when you win," Celebrini said. "It was a great game. Madison Square Garden and to get our first win, it's good."
It was great to see Celebrini and Smith work together and put the team on their back to help secure the win.
When Warsofsky spoke to the media, he mentioned how big it was for both those players to have a big night.
"I think those two in particular, obviously, the numbers and what they did on the scoresheet is impressive, but they're doing other things we need them to do; winning pucks, putting pucks behind teams, not turning over as many pucks as they were earlier in the first year," Warsofsky said. "So they're learning, they're getting better, they're getting more comfortable. Obviously, they put on a show tonight."
Now that the Sharks have notched their first win of the season, their goal is to keep it going and win as many as they can. During Warsofsky's media availability, he spoke on the effort from the group as a whole.
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“We’re not going to quit,” Warsofsky said. “There’s still a lot of hockey to be played. We’re going to keep going. We’re going to keep pushing and challenging, and we’re going to get out of this together."
If you haven't seen it yet, Sharks forward Ryan Reaves dropped the gloves with Matt Rempe, which was easily one of the best fights of the season so far. It was one heck of a tilt that saw Reaves come out on top and sent Rempe to the locker room.
The fight seemed to energize the group, which is something that Reaves spoke about after the game.
“When you draft them that high, you expect them to perform like that and they’ve proven time and time again why they were drafted that high and why all that was going to be put on their shoulders," Reaves said. "It’s great to see.”
The Sharks had a good team-building event during their time in New York City. In between their games with the Islanders and Rangers, they stopped on Broadway and watched “Book of Mormon.” This seemed to have brought the group together and helped them come together to get the win in overtime.
Reaves said, “Felt like it brought the boys together a little bit."
This is something we've seen before, team outings that require bonding with one another having a lasting impact on a team. That could be the turning point of the season for the Sharks.
Let us know what you think below.
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