The Montreal Canadiens will likely be pleased to not see Macklin Celebrini once more this season, barring an unlikely Stanley Cup ultimate.
Lower than two weeks after the San Jose Sharks celebrity produced one objective and three assists in opposition to the Canadiens, Celebrini struck once more with three factors in a 4-2 victory in Montreal on Saturday night time.
“The perfect gamers within the recreation discover methods to create offence, discover methods to affect video games in numerous methods,” head coach Ryan Warsofsky mentioned. “We’ve seen that every one 12 months lengthy from Mack. The world noticed it within the Olympics. However when he will get going, and you can inform he had his legs tonight, he will get going and he needs to make issues occur.
“That’s what kind of participant he’s. He’s extremely aggressive, he’s a gamer.”
Solely 19, Celebrini has already established himself as one of many NHL’s prime gamers in simply his second season, particularly after placing up 10 factors for Canada on the Milan Cortina Olympics.
“He’s powerful to hole up on,” Canadiens defenceman Kaiden Guhle mentioned. “He’s a very sensible participant. He’s bought pace, arms, shot, good imaginative and prescient, he’s a great participant. There’s a motive he was with the group enjoying with these prime gamers.”
The North Vancouver, B.C., product raised his season totals to 35 targets and 94 factors, good for fifth in NHL scoring, with two targets and an help in opposition to Montreal. He additionally has the rebuilding Sharks (32-26-6) holding the ultimate wild-card spot within the Western Convention with fewer than 20 video games left within the common season.
Celebrini ignited San Jose on Saturday, wiring a shot from the slot into the highest left nook to tie the sport 1-1 at 13:12 of the primary interval.
“I noticed a bit of display, so I simply tried to place it in there,” Celebrini mentioned. “Final 12 months I bought quite a lot of photographs blocked, so I’m making an attempt to make use of the D as a display and simply attempt to place the puck.”
Sharks defenceman Vincent Desharnais recalled watching Celebrini work on that precise play throughout coaching camp in September.
“He went and scored a giant objective for everybody, it lifted everybody. Everybody adopted and the sport modified from that second on,” Desharnais mentioned. “The whole lot he does, the whole lot he practises, he has a objective in thoughts. And also you see it now — we’re in March, he does issues that he labored on in September.
“It’s so cool, it’s enjoyable to be a Shark due to that as a result of he’s a franchise participant and we don’t know what his ceiling is. It’s going to be enjoyable to see the place he will get within the subsequent 5 to 10 years.”
Celebrini has extra assists (59) than some other Shark has factors. His 94 factors are additionally greater than Will Smith (45) and Alexander Wennberg (43), San Jose’s second- and third-leading scorers, mixed.
Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis mentioned Montreal “performed with an excessive amount of danger, particularly when 71 was on the ice.”
However longtime Sharks defenceman Mario Ferraro believes it’s no shock opponents battle to comprise Celebrini, even when seeing him for the second time in 11 days.
“I’m pleased I’m on his group,” Ferraro mentioned. “Pace, hockey sense, he’s bought a shot. You don’t need to give him a lot room. I don’t need to hearth him up an excessive amount of. I do know that he will get quite a lot of it. He’s a fairly humble child.”
Past the scoring, Ferraro pointed to Celebrini’s 200-foot recreation as a key motive for his rise into one of many league’s prime stars.
“He tries to make quite a lot of performs and he’s profitable at quite a lot of it, however he competes,” Ferraro mentioned. “He’s the primary man on the backcheck, he’s within the nook, he’s not afraid to get hit. He does quite a lot of the little issues that you just won’t see in a man that places up as many factors as he does. However yeah, he works.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed March 14, 2026.