{"id":117034,"date":"2026-01-02T05:40:35","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T05:40:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/117034\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T05:40:35","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T05:40:35","slug":"macklin-celebrini-extends-streak-as-san-jose-sharks-beat-minnesota-wild-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/117034\/","title":{"rendered":"Macklin Celebrini extends streak as San Jose Sharks beat Minnesota Wild"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2013 Macklin Celebrini,<\/a> William Eklund and the rest of the San Jose Sharks s<\/a>ent 2025 out with bang.<\/p>\n

Now they can\u2019t wait for what\u2019s to come in 2026.<\/a><\/p>\n

Eklund and Celebrini both scored in the shootout and goalie Yaroslav Askarov made several key saves to lead the Sharks to a 4-3 win<\/a> over the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday before a sellout crowd of 17,435 at SAP Center.<\/p>\n

Askarov finished with 20 saves, including three in overtime. He also stopped shots by Mats Zuccarello and Matt Boldy in the shootout as the Sharks (20-17-3) won their third straight game, swept the three-game season series with the Wild, and moved into the first wild card spot in the Western Conference with 43 points.<\/p>\n

Through 40 games, the Sharks have already equaled their win total from all of last season when they finished with the NHL\u2019s worst record (20-50-12).<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think many people had us in this spot right now,\u201d Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. \u201cLast year\u2019s in the past. We\u2019re moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rookie forward Igor Chernyshov had two points and now has three goals and five assists in seven career NHL games. He assisted on Celebrini\u2019s 22nd goal of the season, firing a pass through the slot to the 19-year-old wunderkind, who beat Jesper Wallstedt at the 4:16 mark of the third period for a 3-1 Sharks lead.<\/p>\n

But after the Wild\u2019s Marcus Foligno cut the Sharks lead to one with his first goal of the season at the 6:40 mark, a giveaway by Celebrini led to the tying goal by Minnesota.<\/p>\n

Celebrini corralled a loose puck behind the Sharks\u2019 net but his clearing attempt was intercepted by Zuccarello, who fired a shot past Askarov to tie the game 3-3 with 11:13 left in regulation time.<\/p>\n

The Sharks, though, regrouped, and now have a 14-0-1 record this season when leading after two periods, a radical improvement from the 12-8-5 mark they had last season under such circumstances.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of goals as a group, a lot of big aspirations,\u201d Celebrini said. \u201cI keep bringing it up, but that was our 20th win tonight, and we had 20 all of last year. You can see the excitement in the crowd with the fans. There\u2019s just a lot better vibe in our group in the way we\u2019re doing things right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chernyshov and Jeff Skinner both scored in the second period, with Chernyshov\u2019s goal at the 1:14 mark. Chernyshov, a left shot, took a pass from Celebrini as he entered the Wild zone, fought off a check from Quinn Hughes, moved the puck toward the middle and fired a shot past Wallstedt.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is an NHL move,\u201d Warsofsky said. \u201cThe speed, the demand that he wants with the puck. He and (Celebrini), they\u2019ve got some chemistry going right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skinner\u2019s power play goal, his fifth of the season, coming at 16:47.<\/p>\n

Skinner\u2019s goal was his fifth of the season and his first since Nov. 2. He missed 10 games from Nov. 15 to Dec. 3 with a lower body injury and was also a healthy scratch for two games before Christmas.<\/p>\n

Skinner\u2019s goal, the 378th of his NHL career, came from the middle of the ice inside the blue line as his shot got past a screened Wallstedt.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice when you haven\u2019t scored in a while,\u201d Skinner said. \u201cIt\u2019s always nice to be able to contribute. Nice screen by (Pavol Regenda). I don\u2019t think it goes in without that screen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sharks were looking for a season-sweep of the Wild after beating Minnesota in overtime in their first two meetings in St. Paul. Celebrini scored the winner in San Jose\u2019s 6-5 thrilling victory on Oct. 26, then assisted on Collin Graf\u2019s overtime goal in the Sharks\u2019 2-1 win on Nov. 11.<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Jose Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini (71) and Minnesota Wild defenseman Brock Faber (7) battle for the puck during the first period of their game on Wed. Dec. 31, 2025, in San Jose, Calif. (Aric Crabb\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Jose Sharks forward William Eklund (72) celebrates his shootout goal with goaltender Yaroslav Askarov (30) during their 4-3 against the Minnesota Wild on Wed. Dec. 31, 2025, in San Jose, Calif. (Aric Crabb\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Jose Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini (71) shoots the puck on net during the third period of their game against the Minnesota Wild on Wed. Dec. 31, 2025, in San Jose, Calif. (Aric Crabb\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Jose Sharks forward Tyler Toffoli (73) battles Minnesota Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes (43) and forward Marcus Johansson (90) for the puck during the third period of their game on Wed. Dec. 31, 2025, in San Jose, Calif. (Aric Crabb\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Jose Sharks forward Ryan Reeves (75) tries to get the puck past Minnesota Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt (30) during the first period of their game on Wed. Dec. 31, 2025, in San Jose, Calif. (Aric Crabb\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Jose Sharks forward Igor Chernyshov (92) skate the puck up the ice during their game against the Minnesota Wild on Wed. Dec. 31, 2025, in San Jose, Calif. (Aric Crabb\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Jose Sharks forward Barclay Goodrow (23) works to move the puck in front of Minnesota Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt (30) during the third period of their game on Wed. Dec. 31, 2025, in San Jose, Calif. (Aric Crabb\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Jose Sharks goaltender Yaroslav Askarov (30) makes a save on Minnesota Wild forward Marcus Johansson (90) during the second period of their game on Wed. Dec. 31, 2025, in San Jose, Calif. (Aric Crabb\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 8<\/p>\n

San Jose Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini (71) and Minnesota Wild defenseman Brock Faber (7) battle for the puck during the first period of their game on Wed. Dec. 31, 2025, in San Jose, Calif. (Aric Crabb\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

It was a different looking Minnesota team on Wednesday, though. Since that November loss to the Sharks, the Wild have been nearly unbeatable with a record of 17-3-2, including an impressive 5-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday.<\/p>\n

On Dec. 12, Minnesota acquired Hughes, the NHL\u2019s second-best defenseman, from the Vancouver Canucks. With Hughes in the lineup, the Wild were 6-1-1 in the lineup before Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The Sharks had a slow start to Wednesday\u2019s game and allowed the first goal.<\/p>\n

Sharks defenseman Dmitry Orlov tried to break up a pass intended for Wild winger Vinnie Hinostroza as he pinched inside the blue line, but Ryan Hartman chipped the puck past Orlov and Celebrini to start a Wild 2-on-1. Tarasenko kept the puck and fired a rocket past Askarov for his eighth goal of the season at the 10:38 mark.<\/p>\n

The Sharks ended December with a 8-6-0 record and finish their homestand with games against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday and the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2013 Macklin Celebrini, William Eklund and the rest of the San Jose Sharks sent 2025 out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[402,181,1035,404,88,90,89,98,403,127],"class_list":{"0":"post-117034","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-inside-sports","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-macklin-celebrini","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-san-jose","13":"tag-san-jose-headlines","14":"tag-san-jose-news","15":"tag-san-jose-sharks","16":"tag-sharks-alert","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117034","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=117034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}