Macklin Celebrini says he needs to be better as San Jose Sharks sputter

The San Jose Sharks’ six-game losing skid has drastically hurt their chances of making the playoffs this season. Barring a remarkable turnaround and some collapses by multiple teams directly ahead of them in the Western Conference standings, it’ll be a seventh straight year of no NHL postseason in Santa Clara County.

Few Sharks’ players are wearing the disappointment of likely missing the postseason again more than Macklin Celebrini.

The Sharks couldn’t have asked for much more this season from Celebrini, 19, who enters Saturday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets as the NHL’s fifth-leading scorer with 96 points. He will become just the fourth teenager in league history to lead his team in scoring at both 18 and 19 years old, following Dale Hawerchuk, Sidney Crosby, and Connor Bedard.

Still, Celebrini, due to fatigue, injury, or simply opposing teams ramping up their defensive play, hasn’t hit the scoresheet with the regularity he did prior to the Olympic break. Perhaps he’s finally, after nearly two years of stellar play, showing his age.

The Sharks’ 2-1 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday marked the fourth time in the last five games that Celebrini had been held without a point. He was also on the ice for both Blues’ goals, including Dylan Holloway’s winner with less than three seconds left in the extra session.

“It’s kind of disappointing,” Celebrini said. “Just feeling like I’m not doing my part to help the team, and also being on for goals, I mean, it’s unacceptable, and I need to figure it out.”

In overtime with time winding down, Holloway picked up a loose puck to the left of the Sharks’ net, skated toward the crease in front of a trailing Celebrini, and beat goalie Alex Nedeljkovic, roofing a backhand shot to send San Jose to its sixth straight loss (0-5-1).

Nedeljkovic had to replace Yaroslav Askarov, who suffered an upper-body injury in the second period Thursday and did not return. His status for Saturday’s game is unclear.

“I mean, it sucks,” Celebrini said. “That game was so in reached and I need to come back harder. I just misjudged it, and he scored. It’s just frustrating.

“I was trying to kind of come back, be patient for maybe a (trailing player), but I didn’t know he was going to kind of cut in the middle there, and I also didn’t feel like there was that much time left. I should have been there for the guys.”

It was a sign of leadership from Celebrini, who will no doubt be the Sharks’ captain one day, perhaps as soon as next season.

But the Sharks, including the players, coaching staff, and front office, obviously have to figure out a way to do a better job in the future of supporting Celebrini, so he doesn’t feel like he’s letting everyone down when he doesn’t score.

The Sharks, during Celebrini’s two-year career, now have a dismal record of 5-35-3, including 1-16-2 this season, when the North Vancouver native doesn’t have a point.

The Sharks (32-31-7) have also now scored only three even-strength goals and five goals total in their last four games. They’ve also allowed 3.87 goals per game, the second-highest total in the NHL, in 15 games since the break.

Celebrini has played a ton of hockey and logged a ton of minutes over the last six weeks, starting with six emotionally draining games in 11 days for Team Canada during the Winter Olympics in Milan.

That’s been followed by 15 games in 29 days for the Sharks, in which Celebrini has averaged a team-leading 22:11 in ice time. He had close to 23 minutes of ice time Thursday, including a shift of 2:14 in overtime.

For the season, Celebrini is averaging more ice time per game (21:24) than fellow superstar centers Connor McDavid (21:08), Sidney Crosby (20:46), or Nathan MacKinnon (17:03) did in their second NHL years.

“They have a superstar that drives them,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said of the Sharks before Thursday’s game. “(Celebrini) will to get to hard areas. He’s got amazing skill; everyone sees that with his shot, his cutbacks, and everything. Kind of reminds me of (Jonathan) Toews with the way he goes to hard areas all the time.”

Despite the loss, maybe the Sharks found something against St. Louis that they can take into Saturday’s game in Columbus. The Blues were held to 22 shots, including four in the third period, and, per Natural Stat Trick, to six high-danger chances. The Sharks created 11, including six in the third period.

“I liked our game,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “I thought we did some really good things tonight. Hopefully, a step in the right direction.

“Details were good. We had seven chances 5-on-5 against, that’s pretty good. We should win those games. Frustrating with the result, but a step in the right direction.”

For now, the Sharks will enter Saturday, the final stop on a three-game road trip, in 12th place in the Western Conference and six points back of the Nashville Predators for the second wild card spot, with two games in hand. San Jose remains eight points back of the Vegas Golden Knights for third place in the Pacific Division, with three games in hand.

“Frustrating with the result,” Wennberg said. “Obviously, we had a chance to win this game. We’re in this position right now, fighting for a playoff spot, and we’re letting ourselves down.

“It’s not going to be easy. No one right now is giving up, at all. We have to look forward to the next game. There are opportunities, there are chances. We’re playing some good hockey. The mindset’s got to be the same.”

That holds true for Celebrini, who won’t find things any easier against a Blue Jackets team that is 9-3-4 since the Olympic break, while allowing 2.63 goals per game, eighth-best in the NHL in that time.

The Sharks need to go on a big run, with everyone on board.

“You can look at the positives,” Celebrini said of Thursday’s loss. “It sucks we’re not getting the outcome.”