No, Macklin Celebrini didn’t skate coast-to-coast with the puck, deke five defenders and score a bar-down goal for the San Jose Sharks on Friday.
But in his first competitive game in a teal Sharks uniform, Celebrini made a big impact in the opener of the Rookie Faceoff event in El Segundo.
Playing his first game in nearly four months, the 18-year-old Celebrini scored a third-period power-play goal and finished with five shots in the Sharks’ 3-2 win over the Utah Hockey Club at the Toyota Performance Center.
Forward Ethan Cardwell scored the game-winning goal late in the third period as the Sharks earned a come-from-behind victory to open the event, which features prospects from six NHL teams.
Celebrini’s goal came at the 5:42 mark of the third. He started the sequence by winning a faceoff inside the Utah zone before he drifted back to the blue line, collected the puck, skated along the wall, and fed it back to defenseman Luca Cagnoni.
CELEBRINI POWER PLAY GOAL 2-2 #SJSharks pic.twitter.com/V9U9DgxJrT
— TEAL TOWN USA – A San Jose Sharks Podcast (@TEALTOWNUSA) September 13, 2024
Cagnoni then skated along the blue line before he passed it back to Celebrini, who faked a one-timer, took a stride, and fired the puck past Utah goalie Anson Thornton.
Forward Luke Grainger scored an even-strength goal in the first period, and goalie Georgi Romanov made 18 saves for the Sharks, who finished with 47 shots on net against Utah, a franchise that features new ownership after it was relocated from Arizona to Salt Lake City this offseason.
All eyes, though, were on Celebrini, who became the first player to be taken No. 1 overall by the Sharks at the NHL Draft in Las Vegas in June.
Celebrini centered the Sharks’ top line with Kasper Halttunen and childhood friend Carson Wetsch on his wings and on the No. 1 power-play unit with Will Smith, Quentin Musty, Collin Graf, and Cagnoni.
Please check back for updates to this story.