Celebrini’s Overtime Heroics Lift Sharks Over Wild, 6–5
Macklin Celebrini scored an unassisted goal 3:47 into overtime to lift the San Jose Sharks to a thrilling 6–5 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Sunday.
Celebrini, who also notched two assists, grabbed a loose puck in the San Jose zone after Yaroslav Askarov stopped a Brock Faber attempt, then raced the length of the ice and beat Jesper Wallstedt for the winner.
William Eklund scored twice for the Sharks, while Michael Misa, Ryan Reaves, and Tyler Toffoli also found the net. Askarov finished with 28 saves.
Minnesota rallied with three goals in the third period, capped by Joel Eriksson Ek’s equalizer with 2:18 remaining in regulation. Kirill Kaprizov assisted on the play—his third helper of the night and the 400th point of his NHL career.
Toffoli gave San Jose a 5–3 lead on a power play midway through the third, but Zeev Buium responded just 36 seconds later when his shot deflected off Ty Dellandrea to bring the Wild within one.
Marcus Johansson, Marco Rossi, and Ryan Hartman also scored for Minnesota, which has now gone 1-4-2 over its past seven games. Wallstedt stopped 19 shots.
Eklund and Reaves struck 19 seconds apart in the second period to give the Sharks a 4–2 lead—their second two-goal advantage of the game. Earlier, Eklund opened the scoring with a power-play goal, and Misa followed with his first NHL tally on a rebound to make it 2–0 in the first.
The pair of teenage standouts, Misa (18) and Celebrini (19), have now factored in each of San Jose’s last 11 goals dating back to Oct. 21—the second-longest such streak in NHL history. Only the Edmonton Oilers of 1980, led by Wayne Gretzky, had a longer run (13 straight).
With his three-point performance, Celebrini became just the second teenager in league history to record at least 12 points in his team’s first five road games of a season, joining Sidney Crosby, who had 13 for Pittsburgh in 2006–07.
Up Next
- Sharks: Host the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night.
- Wild: Return home to face the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.
