{"id":112302,"date":"2025-12-29T13:35:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T13:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/112302\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T13:35:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T13:35:12","slug":"san-jose-sharks-sensation-macklin-celebrini-marks-milestone-with-win-over-canucks-in-vancouver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/112302\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jose Sharks sensation Macklin Celebrini marks milestone with win over Canucks in Vancouver"},"content":{"rendered":"

VANCOUVER \u2014 Macklin Celebrini<\/a> already has a long list of accomplishments during his young NHL career. <\/p>\n

He added another Saturday night \u2014 a win in his hometown. <\/p>\n

Celebrini scored and contributed an assist as his San Jose Sharks<\/a> doubled up the Canucks 6-3 in Vancouver. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think we all wanted this one pretty bad and it\u2019s cool to kind of win here,\u201d said the 19-year-old centre. <\/p>\n

\u201cI had a lot of family here and obviously spent some time at home spending Christmas up here, so it was awesome to kind of get one in front of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sharks (18-17-3) took an early 2-0 lead in the first period Saturday but the Canucks threatened to rally for a comeback, repeatedly cutting their deficit to a single goal. <\/p>\n

The No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft put the game out of reach late in the third. <\/p>\n

Russian rookie Igor Chernyshov<\/a> held on to the puck along the endboards, then sliced a quick pass to Celebrini, who dropped to his knees as he blasted a one-timer up and over Vancouver goalie Thatcher Demko<\/a> to give San Jose a 5-3 lead with less than four minutes on the game clock. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a game where I don\u2019t know how that would have gone (our way) last year,\u201d Celebrini said. \u201dBut I think there\u2019s just a calm on our bench, and we kind of knew what we need to do before, to get that win.\u201d<\/p>\n

The young star now has points in seven straight games, with five goals and nine assists across the stretch. He sits third in the league in points (57) behind Edmonton\u2019s Connor McDavid<\/a> (68) and Nathan MacKinnon<\/a> (64) of Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Celebrini\u2019s) a good hockey player. We all know that. And he played good,\u201d said Canucks head coach Adam Foote<\/a>. \u201cHe found open space up high and got pucks to the net and they were digging. He worked hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chernyshov scored his first NHL goal on Saturday and collected an assist on Celebrini\u2019s tally. He has five points (one goal, four assists) across his first five games in the league. <\/p>\n

Ryan Reaves<\/a>, John Klingberg<\/a>, William Eklund<\/a> and Collin Graf<\/a> also scored for the Sharks, and Yaroslav Askarov<\/a> stopped 24 of the 27 shots he faced. <\/p>\n

Linus Karlsson<\/a> had a power-play tally for the Canucks (15-19-3), while Drew O\u2019Connor got a short-handed marker and Marco Rossi<\/a> scored for the first time in a Vancouver jersey. <\/p>\n

The 24-year-old centre was acquired from the Minnesota Wild<\/a> alongside winger Liam Ohgren<\/a> and defenceman Zeev Buium<\/a> as part of a blockbuster trade for star defenceman Quinn Hughes<\/a> on Dec. 12.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a tough night. I think we knew before the game, San Jose\u2019s a really skilled team, and if we were having too many turnovers and too many mistakes, we were gonna get paid for it,\u201d Rossi said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we just have to be better and couple puck managements and puck decisions out there. But now we have to, obviously, keep getting better.\u201d<\/p>\n

A CHALLENGING CALL <\/p>\n

San Jose took the lead 6:11 into the game when Barclay Goodrow<\/a> tipped Vincent Iorio<\/a>\u2019s shot on net and the puck dribbled through Vancouver goalie Thatcher Demko<\/a>. The rubber lay in the crease for a moment before the netminder covered it with his blocker, but Reaves managed to shovel it in for his first in 24 games. <\/p>\n

Demko believed the goal should have been waived off. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I found it, I got my hand on top of it and swept it out, and then he pushed my entire arm in the net,\u201d he said. \u201dSo, I mean, you see challenges where guys are jabbing legs and whatever else in the net, and they usually get called back.\u201d<\/p>\n

The netminder went to the bench at the next whistle and appeared to be speaking with Foote. <\/p>\n

The head coach said he didn\u2019t believe the goal would have been called back if he\u2019d launched a challenge. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur guys know the rule. After a rebound, two players \u2014 the goaltender and player \u2014 are simultaneously going after that puck at once, the rule states it\u2019s not going to be called back,\u201d Foote said. \u201cAnd, hard to see on that angle if he had it completely covered. But our guys didn\u2019t think that was going to get called back.\u201d<\/p>\n

WELCOME HOME<\/p>\n

Celebrini wasn\u2019t the only local player in the Sharks\u2019 lineup on Saturday. Iorio grew up in nearby Coquitlam, B.C., and said he had at least 30 friends and family in the stands. <\/p>\n

The 23-year-old defenceman registered an assist on Reaves\u2019 goal and said hearing his name announced at Rogers Arena was \u201cpretty cool.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI was telling my parents just how surreal it is, and how many games I\u2019ve played here as a kid growing up, all the names and stuff,\u201d he said. \u201cI chatted with (colour commentator) Ray Ferraro<\/a> briefly after the game, he\u2019s a legend here. \u2026 It\u2019s just a full circle moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 28, 2025.<\/p>\n

Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VANCOUVER \u2014 Macklin Celebrini already has a long list of accomplishments during his young NHL career. He added…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[88,90,89,127],"class_list":{"0":"post-112302","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-san-jose","9":"tag-san-jose-headlines","10":"tag-san-jose-news","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}