SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks are giving their three most dynamic young forwards another shot together, with Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, and William Eklund expected to comprise the team’s top line for Thursday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The trio worked well together against the Boston Bruins last Saturday, wildly out-chancing their opposition at even strength. Celebrini assisted on goals by Eklund and defenseman Lucas Carlsson, with Smith’s shot attempt leading to Carlsson’s game-winning goal late in the third period of a 3-1 San Jose win.
Eklund said when he first saw that he, Celebrini, and Smith were playing together against the Bruins, “I knew that it was going to be fun.”
“First of all, because it’s fun to play with two young guys, myself too,” Eklund, 22, added. “You don’t have a care in the world, it seems like. So, it’s a lot of fun. They have a lot of speed out there, and I’m trying to match their speed.”
Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky appreciates those players’ creativity but also needs them to be smart with the puck, particularly against dangerous teams. There were times on Saturday when the Celebrini line perhaps tried to do too much, forcing plays that just weren’t there.
“Make a simple (play) when the simple one’s there, and then let your skill come out when the play is there to be made, and that’s something they’re going to have to continue to learn,” Warsofsky said. “It’s not just going to happen overnight. We’ve gone back and we’ve watched (Connor) McDavid early on, Auston Matthews early on, you go down the list of the superstars in this league, it takes them three, four years to really figure it out.”
Smith was listed with three giveaways Saturday, and Celebrini had one.
“You see it on the power play quite a bit, and having patience, McDavid now has patience on the power play,” Warsofsky said of the Edmonton Oilers’ superstar. “Early on it took him three, four years to figure that out. So, unfortunately, it’s going to take a little bit of time. It’s up to us coaches to really push that and try to develop that skill, and they understand it. They’re really, really smart kids, but having an understanding and a feel of when to make a play and when not to make a play is the biggest thing.”
Managing the puck will be especially important against a dangerous offensive team like the Leafs, who are eighth in the NHL with an average of 3.24 goals per game. If the Sharks turn the puck over, it’ll quickly come back the other way.
“You may be able to do it against Northeastern, but you can’t do it against the Toronto Maple Leafs,” Warsofsky said. “It’s the National Hockey League, the best players in the world, so you have to have a feel for that.”
The ripple effect of putting Celebrini, Smith, and Eklund together created another line that the Sharks are eager to see again, with Alexander Wennberg centering a line with Tyler Toffoli and Collin Graf on the wings.
Wennberg, Toffoli, and Graf were used heavily in the third period of Saturday’s game, which remained tied until Carlsson’s goal with 3:23 left in regulation time. The trio’s Corsi-for percentage (shot attempts) for the game during 5-on-5 play was a team-leading 65.22, as they out-chanced their opposing lines 9-1 at even strength.
It’s a good bet that Wennberg’s line will get the matchup against the Matthews line, which also features Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies, who have a combined 133 points. The San Ramon-born Matthews has 64 points.
“Our line was working well,” said Wennberg, who led all forwards with 21:15 in ice time. “I feel that we have chemistry, and not only that, we were playing against (Boston’s) first line, got matched against good players, and had a solid game defensively as well.”
If Wennberg is matched against Matthews, Celebrini and company will likely face the line of John Tavares, William Nylander, and Bobby McMann, who combined for 10 points in Toronto’s 7-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday.
For the Sharks’ young guns, it’s a balance between being prudent and doing what they do best to create chances.
“Sometimes it’ll be high risk. Sometimes you have to have risk to make those plays, but I get what (Warsofsky) says,” Eklund said. “Sometimes you’ve also got to lay (the puck) back behind (the defense) and go to work that way, and that’s something you’ve got to learn (along) the way.”
LUND TO DEBUT: Newly signed forward Cam Lund will make his NHL debut against the Leafs, Warsofsky confirmed. Lund, who signed his three-year entry-level contract with the Sharks last week, was on the right wing as he skated on a line Wednesday with center Patrick Giles and left wing Ty Dellandrea. Lund was also on the Sharks’ second power-play unit as the net-front presence.
With Lund going in, indications were Nikolai Kovalenko would come out of the lineup. In his last two games after he was a healthy scratch against the Washington Capitals on March 15, Kovalenko averaged just over 12 minutes in ice time and had one shot on net.
It also appeared that Klim Kostin and Noah Gregor would each be scratched for a third straight game.
NOTABLE: Defenseman Vincent Desharnais, who missed Monday’s practice with an upper-body ailment, practiced Wednesday and appeared to be on track to play against the Leafs. The Sharks only have six healthy defensemen at the moment, so if Desharnais can’t play, they would have to recall someone from the Barracuda, who were in San Diego on Wednesday.