Macklin Celebrini appears to like facing the New York Rangers.
When the Sharks visited Madison Square Garden in October, Celebrini carried San Jose to a 6-5 win with five points and three goals — including the overtime winner.
With the Rangers making the return trip to SAP Center on Friday, the visitors still didn’t have much of an answer for the young superstar, who scored two goals in the first eight minutes to guide the Sharks to a 3-1 win.
Entering Friday night, Celebrini hadn’t scored in his last six games, which somehow feels like a massive slump for the immensely productive 19-year-old. But he needed just over a minute to get on the board via a deflection off his skate, before adding a second soon after with a rocket one-timer off a Will Smith no-look pass.
And that was all the Sharks needed, as they successfully protected their early three-goal advantage despite failing to find the back of the net the rest of the way.
“Anytime you can get on top of a team like that … and kind of bring it to them, I thought we had a lot of energy, and we were on top of them right away,” Celebrini told reporters.
With the Olympic break looming, the Sharks honored their four players heading to Milan next month for their respective countries. Paired with San Jose playing their last home game between Jan. 11 and Feb. 26, the San Jose crowd was particularly loud on Friday night.
The other goal scorer, Pavol Regenda, also is set to represent Slovakia at the Winter Olympics. Perhaps that pregame ceremony gave an extra boost, as Regenda scored a beautiful back-hander in between Celebrini’s goals.
“I’m really enjoying the time here, and it’s just a bonus that I can stand there with the flag, and people cheer for me, so I’m really happy with that,” Regenda explained. “I was hoping that [Alexander Wennberg] was going to score so all of the Olympians could score a goal. That would’ve been great.”
Alas, despite multiple solid chances, the Swedish forward Wennberg couldn’t find the back of the net. Philipp Kurashev, who is on the Swiss national team, remains on IR but still was honored on the ice.
While the Sharks clearly appreciated the support of the hometown crowd, they now head right back on the road for a five-game trip before the three-week break.