Macklin Celebrini and the San Jose Sharks hit the road riding high.
As Celebrini – the first pick in this year’s draft – and the Sharks head into Wednesday’s clash with the Dallas Stars to kick off a two-game trip, San Jose will aim to build on a thrilling victory in which its young star was the hero.
Celebrini scored his first NHL overtime and game-winning goal in Monday’s 5-4 home win over the Detroit Red Wings.
“It’s fun to win one in overtime. We’ve been on the wrong side of it a couple of times, so it was nice to get that one,” Celebrini said after netting the winner 46 seconds into overtime.
The Sharks, who finished at the bottom of the league standings last season, entered Tuesday tied for last in the Pacific Division, but have plenty of positives to build off right now. San Jose has gone 6-3-2 since losing its first nine games of the season.
Making the playoffs is likely a pipe dream, even with three-quarters of the season remaining, but the Sharks appear to be heading in the right direction. San Jose erased three one-goal deficits before beating the Red Wings to snap its three-game skid.
“We deserved to win the hockey game,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “I thought for the majority of the game we pushed the pace, and we took over some parts of the third period that we’ve been talking about all year. That was our identity.”
Celebrini, who has four goals in eight games this season, savored his first high-leverage tally.
“I mean, to get put in that situation, you want to come through for your team, especially after a couple of misses in the shootout and stuff,” he said.
The Stars are back in action after having their three-game win streak end in Monday’s 4-2 home loss to Anaheim.
“This type of game is going to happen to everybody in the league at some point. Over an 82-game schedule, you’re going to have a game where you’re either off, flat or get behind and can’t come back,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “It’s over with, there’s nothing we can do about it now. It’s all about our response.”
The Stars scored twice in the third period to pull within 3-2 but could not complete the comeback. Defenseman Esa Lindell (two goals, six assists) said Dallas did not have to wonder after the game what went wrong.
“You have to prepare every night. (Our) pre-scout said they’re going to come out hard, play physical and compete. We didn’t match that,” Lindell said. “We’ve got to bounce back. When we ramp up the compete, it’s going to help our game and results.”
Forward Matt Duchene (team-high 21 points) suggested the Stars played down to Anaheim on Monday.
“We’ve got to make sure we’re crossing T’s and dotting I’s and making sure we don’t lose games like that,” Duchene said. “Give them credit, they are a talented team with a good goaltender. They played well. They played a good hockey game and there’s two teams out there trying to win. But if we bring our A-game, that’s a game we likely win.”
