San Jose Sharks
Celebrini Ties Game Late With Highlight-Reel Strike, Sharks Win 4-3 in OT
LOS ANGELES — The San Jose Sharks visit the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena.
Tyler Toffoli and Adam Gaudette and Macklin Celebrini and William Eklund scored, and the Sharks win it 4-3 in OT. Check out Celebrini’s incredible game-tying goal:
WHO ELSE BUT MACKLIN CELEBRINI? 🤯
Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/3b4Mz4UCkM
— NHL (@NHL) January 8, 2026
Period 1
Opening shift, love Chernyshov along the wall, he loses the puck, but he also is the first to take it back from Foegele, preventing a clean Kings’ exit.
4 in: Electric lead pass by Chernyshov to Celebrini, big Kuemper stop. After Byfield almost took advantage of a Ferraro point fumble. Chernyshov has been a little quiet last two games, but he’s rumbling so far.
6 in: Kuzmenko sets up a couple Kings’ chances, including Anderson walking down slow, Askarov turns it away.
10 in: Wow, Celebrini just passed it to himself between his legs, then cross-slot to Eklund. The cross-slot just missed, but the point of the between-the-legs pass is to get the puck where he can pass it quicker. He’s playing so fast, the defense can’t keep up.
9 left: Nice work by Leddy to cut off Laferriere’s 2-on-1 pass, Dickinson was tracking back hard too, he might’ve caught up.
8 left: Ostapchuk almost connects with Reaves on a beaut pass.
In general, I’ve liked the San Jose Sharks’ forecheck to start tonight, five-man active unit. Playing with speed, too. Could be better with puck, but they’re playing alert and engaged. Also, have liked Askarov so far, mostly hard, decisive rebounds. Seems to be finding that puck.
3 left: Huge Askarov save on Fiala PP bid from the slot.
Period 2
Doughty penalty: Good work by Dickinson and Ostapchuk to get up in play. Ostapchuk pressure forces the call.
Toffoli goal: Slump buster, Toffoli’s first since Dec. 16, eight-game slump. I think Wennberg saw him. What a pass.
Longest point streaks, #SJSharks history:
E. Karlsson – 14 GP – 22 pts (2g, 20a)
M. Granlund – 13 GP – 15 pts (2g, 13a)
Macklin Celebrini – 12 GP – 22 pts (8g, 14a)*
R. Gaudreau – 12 GP – 19 pts (14g, 5a)
J. Cheechoo – 12 GP – 19 pts (10g, 9a)
*active https://t.co/vV475Uq66o— San Jose Sharks PR (@SanJoseSharksPR) January 8, 2026
Helenius penalty: Skinner forecheck causes the pressure. Since maybe his scratch, he’s picked up his game.
Toffoli penalty: That’s not a good hooking penalty by Toffoli though, he knows it.
In Dellandrea’s absence, looks like Wennberg-Graf, then Ostapchuk-Goodrow are your go-to PK’ers.
9 in: Like that Dickinson shift, soft pass springs Chernyshov, then steps up defensively.
Turcotte goal: Fiala alone for a second along wall, Leddy steps up, all good. But Fiala shot goes off Leddy, he beats Leddy to rebound, and it’s a fire drill from there.
8 left: Chernyshov takes it to net with authority.
7 left: Tremendous kick pass by Wennberg to Regenda, partial break in-tight for Regenda. Wennberg really the best with his feet and the puck on the San Jose Sharks.
6 left: Like Eklund driving the net there.
4 left: Big block by Ostapchuk there, Sharks were struggling a little to get it out.
Doughty penalty: Interesting contrast of play styles, Sharks want to speed up, Chernyshov draws the call on the rush.
Period 3
No bueno, Turcotte bursts by Leddy down the gut, big Askarov save.
5 in: Mega-Kuemper save, Celebrini one-touch pass basically pants the Kings PK, Toffoli has an hour in front of him.
Gaudette goal: What a tip by Hockey Gaud! Good basic work, Skinner to point, Gaudette and Regenda screen. Celebrini double-shift on PP, and no assist for him, but he creates so much space for others.
Fiala goal: Ostapchuk line has been hemmed in today, not one of their best defensive performances. Big bounce off backboards, off Kings point shot, and it becomes chaos. Fiala sorts it out.
Edmundson no-goal: That’s the right call, he punched it in. But again, tough shift for fourth line. Kings have made their lives miserable, picked at a match-up. Fiala line has been against them at 5-on-5 all night.
Laferriere goal: Fourth line again, though this time Gaudette in for Reaves. That was a little bit when it rains, it pours. Just a long shot and some deflection.
Celebrini goal: Just wow. Doesn’t allow the puck out, then two individual video game moves to open up things in the slot for himself.
OT
Celebrini-Wennberg-Orlov to start.
What a game! Celebrini is unreal! This team is so much fun to watch!
That Mack Cele tying goal was INSANE!
Sooo much fun to watch. You never know what you’re going to witness.
It reminds me of how Cale Makar can skate through people from the point and take over games. So fucking cool!
Mac Dawg predicted SJ’s score, myself and Snark predicted the one goal game in SJ favor in OT, but missed the final by one goal each.
We were all 50% right. lol
Just happy they won. They played great overall and even Leddy looked mostly not horrible. I guarantee no team wants to face Celly in the playoffs. Can you imagine him in that setting?
Yeah Leddy was pretty good! A lot better than Ferraro tonight by my eye test
I hope we all get a chance to see him have that opportunity this year, and many to follow.
We were all pretty close! Rsharks even called the Eklund goal!
👍🏼
One win from first in the Pacific
That shit is insane.
If Jack Eichel’s stupid puck flip doesn’t take that ridiculous bounce on opening night, that’s where we would be. That’s how silly this season has been
I can’t count at least 2-4 crazy bounces like that one and if not for for that, the Sharks would comfortably be seating in 1st place in the Pacific. But it’s a long season, so some crazy bounces will go against and some for the Sharks .Consistency is the magic word here and Sharks will be tasting playoffs, if the incoming trip won’t blow them some games away against really excellent teams. Winning 4 games on the trip by Sharks will be a ‘good trip”.
Amazing!!!! Back to back wins!!! Celebrini pulled us out of grave and won that game with some MVP level hockey!
I think Ferraro had a rough night with puck-watching and bad bounces, and the Sharks were out battled at some key points alot of the night. Good thing we have Celebrini and they don’t!
That puck steal in OT by Cele was incredible!
I normally don’t buy players sweaters but… 🤔
It looked to me like the team, in general, was fighting the puck and play a little bit tonight. Second night of a back to back against a playoff team might partially contribute?
Yeah that’s fair. Glad we won, but if Celebrini doesn’t tie and win the game almost singlehandedly, then we would of lost and deserved it in my opinion. I felt like that last LA goal was meant to be the game winner, but then Celebrini refused to lose!
This is why he’ll be wearing that “C” next year.
Yeah I thought some players noticeably looked like they had heavy legs tonight especially towards the end of shifts. First back to back since November so makes sense.
Dickinson is starting to flash lately jumping into plays offensively. He just seems much more confident out there as games go on. Look out league…
Out there on the PK and in OT… He’s growing quickly
He really does. And it was cool seeing him out there in OT using those offensive skills.
This is starting to remind me of the Kings team that lost to Montreal in the cup final in ‘93. They broke in 3 very young D. I could swear 2 were rookies and one was either 2nd or 3rd year. They all ended up being great. But they developed over a tough season where Gretz missed like half the season with back surgery. Then they got hot at the end of the season and carried it all the way to the cup final. Those 3 young defenders were Alex Zhittnick, Daryl Sydor and Rob Blake. Hopefully Shak can get… Read more »
Can’t believe my eyes… Are the Sharks really 1 pt out of 1st in the division and currently leading the division in overall wins?
How amazingly crazy would it be if SJ beats Dallas on Saturday, and EDM loses tomorrow to the Jets. I know not likely, but SJ could be in 2nd or 3rd in the division depending on Seattle’s outcome with Minny tomorrow. Exciting times.
I didn’t think at the beginning of this season that the win/loss of each game at the mid way point would actually matter much. I figured it would be more about individual and team development. Yet, here they are.
I mean, Vegas and Dallas are two very tough teams to face in a back to back, so it’s reasonable to lower the bar for what to call a successful outing. If we can just not look completely outclassed and “men vs boys” against two cup contenders, I’d call that a successful outcome for where we are at as an org.
Yep. No 7-1 losses this weekend would be good.
Edit: unless the loss is FV or Dallas.
Fwiw, Vegas has to play Saturday at home and then travel to SJ for Sunday. And their Saturday game is 7pm vs the Sharks 1pm start. Finally, their game will be the 3rd in 4 nights for them, as they also play tomorrow night.
Maybe they should be the ones to fear us for a change!
So you’re saying there’s a chance then…😉
Yeah the game to beat Vegas was the last one when they had a bunch of great players out with injury.
I was hoping they would be within about 6-8 points of the playoffs to at least keep it interesting. I thought if everything goes perfect maybe they can challenge for the 8th spot. Obviously even better than I hoped despite the injuries and rough start.
Celebrini brilliance notwithstanding
Dickie looked good to my untrained eyes late in the game and in OT. Looked poised, confident. Very encouraging!
Definitely.
GET IN HERE BOYS WE GOIN FLUFFIN!
I don’t get it!! Isn’t fluff a reference to the getting people ready for porn scenes? I just don’t get the joke!
I had to look the word up and I still don’t get it.
And yes, a fluffer is exactly that.
oh well……SHARKS WIN!!!
That’s my take anyways… I just call it “Enjoying the win” though
I like enjoying the win
Getting someone else ready for sex with someone else doesn’t sound like “enjoying a win” to me. 😳 Must be a generational thing…? 🤷♂️
My point was not that getting someone ready for sex is enjoying the win. It was that I don’t call it fluffing. I call it enjoying a win. Fans are allowed to enjoy wins, maybe that’s just my opinion.
Sometimes purposefully misunderstanding makes it more funny. 😉
Definitely lol
Yeah I’m at a loss too.
Although well into my eight decade of life my 13 year old maturity-level brain is remains in the gutter. However, way back in grade school fluffing was acting silly and being stupid enough to get caught and then getting disciplined for it. My parents OTOH used fluffing as oversellng s/t.
So not the same as “pre-selling it”….😜🤣
Yeah, I want nothing to do with that.
Can’t wait for back to back home games this weekend. Dallas and Vegas! Let’s fill up the tank.
I’ll be there with my wife and 3-year old son! He’s getting a surprise Sharkie-gram, so we’re pretty pumped!
Aww man props to you!!! One of my more meaningful memories as a kid was Sharkie “chomping” my head at a game. Hopefully your kid has a blast!
That’s awesome.
Macklin Celebrini is the greatest Shark player I have ever watched.
I saw Igor, Sergie, Sandis & our little Latvian Irbe make magic in 93-94.
I was on the glass in Dallas when Jumbo made that no-look backhand pass to Patty.
I’ve seen 35 years of Sharks hockey. Nothing compares to what I am witnessing on a nightly basis with Macklin. I love this kid!
And he’s on pace to have the greatest season ever by a Shark. I watched the Kings feed for tonight’s game and they thought if the Sharks make the playoffs, he’s the Hart winner. He would be the second youngest winner ever after Crosby, and younger than Gretzky
He wins the hart and Wario wins Jack Adams.
Warso has been awesome, but he almost lost that game last night and Macklin had to rescue it.
Please explain how
I just want to know what I missed.
Yeah, Celebrini is the greatest Shark ever. I know it’ll take a whole career to really make that determination, but I don’t think we’ve ever had a player on this level!
Can you imagine, is it possible that he’ll get even better!!? It’s fucking crazy, but I think it’s inevitable that 25-35 year old Macklin will be even better than the 19 year old version.
Hyperbole? Maybe. But name another Shark player in their history that is doing what Mack is doing at 19!!!! Ya can’t because there isn’t. Macklin is in a tier unto himself. He is 100% the MVP of the Sharks possibly even the NHL.
Side note: Special shout-out to Rick & Robin Celebrini for creating such a magnificent Hockey player & ever better Human Being. They get my vote for Parents of the Century!
Shark players? The only teams that can name players they had that were consistently doing what Celebrini is doing as teenagers are the Oilers and Penguins.
Yup. But Jumbos MVP season was pretty great though. He was unstoppable in a more difficult era for offense.
And he’s 19. What’s he going to look like when he’s 22-25?
More facial hair… maybe.
That’s Two! Starting the Olympic stretch run with 2 wins is the best anyone could hope for.
Now it just gets tougher, DAL & FV for the next set. A Sharks sweep of the weekend would be beyond epic and set them up nicely for a demanding roadtrip with 2 more sets of B2Bs out east.
I would be psyched to win either game. Dallas was looking mortal until tonight while Vegas has been a tough matchup for this team for years, but they could come in a little worn out. We shall see, and hope this Sharks team comes out firing both nights
I for sure expect a better game against FV than last time. That sting is still fresh.
I would rather they lose to Dallas than Vegas. Beat the divisional teams.
Yep!
The combined age of the 3 skaters on the ice for the OT winner? Younger than me.
Two takeaways… 1) You’re older than I thought and 2) I was thinking about Celebrini, Eklund and Dickinson out there going, “Ok I guess we’re doing this!” And then they did it!
I am starting to form the opinion that you can throw Celebrini out there with two pylons and the Sharks are gonna get that OT dub though. Seriously, teams should just forfeit at the end of regulation
That’s what they did with Crosby tryout his career.
The Sharks have more wins than losses for the first time this season. They are over actual .500, and not just hockey .500.
22 wins, 21 total losses
In true Wins/Losses (not Bettman world W/L) they’ve been even a couple times this year, but the true last time the Sharks had more wins than losses was January 20, 2022.
19 years old and Celebrini is an absolute superstar. Sometimes I need to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming.
He is/will be the “best player in the league”
”eventually”!?
I said this last year and it is clear to see this year. If you want to see how great Macklin Celebrini is, watch how the other team reacts to him. Last year, he had great players like Kaprizov, Jack Hughes and even Sydney Crosby turn back when they looked to attack offensively. Most just dismissed me as if I was clueless but it’s even more prominent this year. Last night he looked like he literally chased the Kings out of the zone twice in overtime and even the steal he made was Kempe’s half attempt at pushing the puck… Read more »
Big difference between Celly last season to this one. He’s changed a lot in his game already and he’s clearly stronger and even more aggressive.
Keep Dustin Brown away from Mack
I watched the Kings feed for last night’s game and I learned there is a statue of Dustin Brown hoisting the cup at that crappy arena, and I was honestly filled with rage. I cannot wait for Mack to cause all the pain he is going to cause that franchise. Dustin Brown was a dirty, no talent ass clown, and the Kings can have him. Mack will hoist cups with a C on his chest and he will do it the right way