MINNEAPOLIS — This was going to be another story about the San Jose Sharks blowing a third period lead and losing the game.
But instead, improbably, Macklin Celebrini saved the day for a 6-5 OT victory.
What’s clear though, the Sharks are still shooting themselves in the foot, in their quest to play winning hockey.
Up 2-0 and dominating the first period, Vincent Iorio took a high sticking penalty that led to a Marcus Johansson power play goal. 32 seconds later, an unforced error on a Tyler Toffoli-Vincent Desharnais puck exchange led to a 2-on-1 Marco Rossi strike.
“We woke them up. That was our own doing,” San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “That’s one big lesson.”
This same pattern repeated itself in the third period.
First, credit the Sharks for sticking at it, and regaining their lead.
7:52 into the final frame, Toffoli made it 5-3 on the power play, off a brilliant Celebrini pass, in what probably should’ve been the dagger goal.
But these are the Sharks, who won just 12 of 25 games that they led going into the third period last year. That .480 Win % Leading After Two Periods was far behind second-worst Chicago Blackhawks’ .667.
It’ll take more than Celebrini’s OT goal to change that narrative.
The Sharks have already lost a game this year leading after two periods, 7-6 in OT to the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 11. They’ve also blown two late third period leads, a 4-3 OT loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Oct. 9 and a 6-5 OT victory over the New York Rangers on Oct. 23.
Against the Wild, it wasn’t so much the familiar result, but how they played: You can forgive the Zeev Buium goal that made it 5-4, a long shot bouncing off Ty Dellandrea’s back and over Yaroslav Askarov. That’s a fluke.
But getting outshot 9-1 after this goal, and getting outshot 17-5 in the final frame?
“Just the way we have to play in the third, we [have to] continue to make plays. We can’t be flipping pucks,” Warsofsky said, about the Sharks’ third period. “So there’s some things we’ll work on.”
This was exemplified by Dellandrea, not under clear duress, flipping the puck to a Wild defenseman on an attempted exit, which led to a Sharks’ DZ faceoff that Joel Eriksson Ek took advantage of to tie the game.
Then, in OT, Ryan Warsofsky repeated a decision that he made against the Rangers on Thursday, starting Alex Wennberg, William Eklund, and Timothy Liljegren.
While that decision made some sense on Thursday, center Wennberg being a veteran and generally better on draws than Celebrini, and as a teaching lesson for the youthful Celebrini and Will Smith, it almost backfired tonight. (If anybody cares, I thought it was bold and solid decision on Thursday, not so much tonight.)
There’s no question that Celebrini is the Sharks’ best player on a night-to-night basis, and he had also won 16-of-20 faceoffs tonight, an 80.0 Win %, second-best of his young career. The then 18-year-old won 86.7 % of his faceoffs, 13-of-15, on Apr. 16 at the Edmonton Oilers.
Instead, Wennberg, Eklund, and Liljegren were pinned in their zone for almost all of overtime, 3:47. To their credit, they were able to hold the Wild to a post and perhaps one Grade-A quality chance. But they also could never get full possession of the puck, until Celebrini (71) jumped on the ice for winger Eklund (72), pickpocketed Brock Faber (7), and put on his cape.
INCREDIBLE. UNBELIEVABLE. NOTHING LIKE IT. pic.twitter.com/G7De8JWPMS
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) October 27, 2025
So what have I learned?
This was going to be another story about the San Jose Sharks blowing a third period lead and losing the game…but now, they’ve got Celebrini, who just might be going from rookie last year to superstar this season.
No matter how many games that the Sharks lose this year, that’s the biggest win.
Macklin Celebrini
Typically, Celebrini would change for the center (Wennberg) in OT, but #SJSharks coaches made a decision on the fly to send him over for a winger (Eklund).
“I just got yelled at to go,” Celebrini said, right before he scored GWG
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 27, 2025
Celebrini explains his recent offensive explosion:
Playing with really good players. I think you gotta kind of credit to your linemates. They support you, and they’re the ones making the plays. I think we’ve just been clicking.
Celebrini, on if he saw Luke Schumann:
That’s what took me so long [to get to media]. I was gonna say hi to him. I think maybe he’s our good luck charm.
Celebrini, on Luke Schumann: “Maybe he’s our good luck charm.” https://t.co/Hu0k3XmWen
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 27, 2025
Ryan Warsofsky
Warsofsky, on how unforced errors hurt Sharks tonight, from the Tyler Toffoli-Vincent Desharnais exchange that led to Marco Rossi goal, to Ty Dellandrea’s inability to get the puck out that led to the tying goal:
There’s some things we definitely have to clean up, for sure, especially around our net. People get to our net way too easy. So we’ll go back. We’ll look at it again.
I think it’s a lesson that we’ve learned. First 10 minutes of the game, we play really well, 2-nothing lead. We take another penalty. And superstar players, that’s where they get their feel and their touch, and they get their points, and now they start feeling good. We woke them up. That was our own doing. That’s one big lesson.
The other would be the third period, just the way we have to play in the third, we [have to] continue to make plays. We can’t be flipping pucks. So there’s some things we’ll work on, but to get the win that’s important. It’s a hard league to
to win in.
Warsofsky, on his defensive pairings:
Iorio, was one of his better games. He’s moving the puck. So we’re getting there. We gotta firm up our game in some areas.
Michael Misa
Misa, on his first NHL goal:
Misa, on his first NHL goal: “It’s the easiest first goal you probably could’ve asked for…fortunate enough to be in that spot.”
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 27, 2025
I was kind of calling for the puck that whole play when Lily was coming down the wall, but then he got it to the net, and the rebound was able to squirt right out to me.
Tyler Toffoli
Toffoli, on Celebrini:
Yeah, he had a very good road trip. Led the charge, for sure. Obviously, he’s a huge part of our team and organization. That was another great performance.
Toffoli, on what the San Jose Sharks can do better in the third period:
Obviously, a lot. Give up too many opportunities. Backed off and let them forecheck and do what they wanted to do. So obviously, that’s something we got to figure out.