{"id":41469,"date":"2025-11-06T22:19:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T22:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/41469\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T22:19:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T22:19:07","slug":"san-jose-sharks-macklin-celebrini-to-host-winnipeg-jets-florida-panthers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/41469\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jose Sharks, Macklin Celebrini to host Winnipeg Jets, Florida Panthers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The San Jose Sharks feel like, with the way they\u2019re playing,<\/a> they can compete with any team in the National Hockey League right now.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a while<\/a> since the Sharks have been able to make such a claim \u2014 at least with any conviction.<\/p>\n

But the proof\u2019s been in the pudding during the last week. With recent wins over the Atlantic Division-leading New Jersey Devils,<\/a> Central Division-leading Colorado Avalanche,<\/a> and, on Wednesday, the Seattle Kraken, who were atop the Pacific Division at the start of this week, the Sharks have a right to feel good about themselves, at least for a little while.<\/p>\n

With their 6-1 win<\/a> over the Kraken, the Sharks enter Friday\u2019s home game against the Winnipeg Jets \u2014 last season\u2019s Presidents\u2019 Trophy winners<\/a> \u2014 with a 5-2-1 record in their previous eight games after a dismal 0-4-2 start. They then host the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers<\/a> on Saturday in back-to-back measuring stick games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the league doesn\u2019t really know what we\u2019re capable of doing, and we don\u2019t get quite as much as respect as we should,\u201d said Sharks forward Adam Gaudette. \u201cI think this is a good opportunity for us to prove that we are a good hockey team and we can compete with these top teams by doing the right things and staying levelheaded and consistent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three reasons the Sharks might be for real:<\/p>\n

CELEBRINI\u2019S HISTORIC START<\/p>\n

Macklin Celebrini is playing as well as anyone in the NHL<\/a> right now.<\/p>\n

With his three-point effort against the Kraken, the 19-year-old Celebrini entered Thursday tied for the league lead in points (21) with the Edmonton Oilers\u2019 Connor McDavid.<\/p>\n

This marked the first time in NHL history<\/a> that a teenager was the league\u2019s scoring leader (tied or outright) at this stage of a season (217 games played league-wide). Celebrini is also the 11th player since the start of the 1993-94 season to have 84 points in their first 84 games, and has a league-leading 15 points in six road games.<\/p>\n

Celebrini has four three-point games this season, and the Sharks have a 5-4-1 record when he has at least one point. Of the Sharks\u2019 20 wins last season, 13 came when he had at least one point.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know he\u2019s got the points, but the way he plays a 200-foot game at a young age, and the way he impacts the game in so many different ways, is the most impressive thing,\u201d Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. \u201cI think that\u2019s what\u2019s so special about him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Celebrini is also elevating the play of those around him, as Will Smith and Tyler Toffoli have played their best hockey with the Sharks when they\u2019ve been on the same line as the North Vancouver native.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe drives the bus for us, for sure,\u201d Gaudette said of Celebrini. \u201cAs a young guy, it\u2019s impressive to be doing that. And it\u2019s not just the points, it\u2019s the way he plays the game and how hard he plays the game. When you get everyone doing that and on the same page, it\u2019s a recipe for success, and it\u2019s hard to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

With all that in mind, it\u2019s not a question of whether Celebrini will be on Canada\u2019s Olympic team in February. It\u2019s what number he\u2019ll wear, what line he\u2019ll be on, and who his linemates will be for Canada\u2019s first game in Milano-Cortina.<\/p>\n

Friday, Celebrini and the Sharks will play a Jets team led by center Mark Scheifele, who, entering Thursday, was tied for third in the NHL in scoring with 20 points. He, like Celebrini, was left off Canada\u2019s roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off and is as motivated as anyone to be on that team going to Italy.<\/p>\n

IMPROVED DEFENSE, GOALTENDING<\/p>\n

At the start of this week, Alex Nedeljkovic and Yaroslav Askarov combined for a .940 save percentage in the last three games. Now that save percentage is up to .946 after the previous four games following Askarov\u2019s 28-save performance against the Kraken, which included 13 saves on the Sharks\u2019 six penalty kills.<\/p>\n

The Sharks have now allowed two goals or fewer during regulation time and overtime in four straight games. The last time that happened was between Nov. 28 and Dec. 3, 2021.<\/p>\n

Whether those numbers for the Sharks\u2019 goalies are sustainable is unclear. But the Sharks have allowed nine or fewer high-danger scoring chances in seven of their last nine games. In the first five games of the season, they allowed close to 12 high-danger chances per game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we execute coming out of our own end, you\u2019re obviously not playing in your own end,\u201d Warsofsky said. \u201cWhen you don\u2019t execute coming out of your own end, you\u2019re playing in your own end a lot. What would happen earlier in the season, and more so last year, is our puck play would fail. We would have another chance to execute a puck play, and that would fail, and then we really hemmed in our own end.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done a better job of not letting one failure become two, and we\u2019ve got more numbers around pucks in our defensive zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

BETTER CONNECTIVITY<\/p>\n

The Sharks are playing a more cohesive brand of hockey right now, and are also starting to become a tight-knit team off the ice.<\/p>\n

The Sharks\u2019 road trip through the New York area and Minnesota last month undoubtedly brought the team, full of new faces, closer together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you add 10 new players, it takes time, it really does, for chemistry on the ice or off the ice, to get to know each other, playing with new linemates,\u201d Warsofsky said. \u201cWe\u2019re definitely seeing a more connected group, off the ice, and especially on the ice.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe made some adjustments to our breakout structure, and that took some time. We\u2019re starting to get the hang of that a little bit more. There are still areas in the neutral zone where we can be a little bit better. But \u2026 there\u2019s definitely been a big jump in (connectivity), for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

INJURY UPDATES<\/p>\n

The Sharks placed rookie center Michael Misa on injured reserve Thursday, one day after he sustained a lower-body injury during the team\u2019s morning skate in Seattle. Misa, who has three points in seven NHL games, will not be eligible to play against either Winnipeg or Florida. The Sharks recalled Zack Ostapchuk from the Barracuda to take Misa\u2019s roster spot. Ostapchuk had three points in nine games with the Barracuda this season. \u2026 William Eklund, who remains on the Sharks\u2019 active roster, skated Thursday morning, but Warsofsky didn\u2019t know if the 23-year-old would be able to play against the Jets after he had to sit out Wednesday\u2019s game in Seattle. \u2026 Both forward Ryan Reaves (lower body) and defenseman Nick Leddy (upper body) skated Thursday morning. They remained on IR as of Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Jose Sharks feel like, with the way they\u2019re playing, they can compete with any team in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41470,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[7,404,88,90,89,98,127],"class_list":["post-41469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-california","tag-nhl","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41469","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=41469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}