Sharks Lose 3-1…And Celebrini to Injury

The San Jose Sharks welcome Utah Hockey Club into SAP Center for the first time.

Matt Benning scored, but the Sharks lost Macklin Celebrini to injury, and they lost 3-1.

Period 1

Celebrini making defensive plays all over the ice in his first two shifts. He will rate high in a count of Defensive Plays by the end of the season. Active stick.

6 in: Celebrini showing maybe a little youth there. Tries to force it up NZ there, almost a turnover. Maybe just dump it in, give it up along the wall there? Gain some territory, at least a respite for your team.

8 in: Cagnoni almost connected with Kunin on a beaut stretch pass. Late in shift though, defensively, he looked like he had a slow first step on Iginla, who had a partial break. Iginla had no gas either so just shot it from distance. Then Doan almost pickpocketed him on exit. FYI I’m watching Cagnoni and Thompson very closely today.

8 left: Ceci connects with Kunin for a nice stretch pass. Kunin then almost hits Goodrow for a tic-tac-toe. Just missed.

7 left: Benning just loses it on breakout, looks unforced. Raty with a point-blank chance.

5 left: Doan has the puck in front, Thompson does a good job of knocking him down. That’s a solid defensive play, what you gotta do in a pinch.

4 left: That was a good test for Smith, one-on-one a couple times with Hayton, a real NHL center. Smith still has work to do. Not strong enough on the puck yet.

2 left: Like the PK shift from Goodrow. Mirrors the Utah quarterback. Then when the QB wants to drop, he has to think twice, because Goodrow is waiting to intercept the drop. I’m not a PK expert, but that looks pretty textbook.

Period 2

3 in: Smith still figuring it out. After a pretty Cagnoni keep and backhand pass to Smith, Smith tries a hard (and challenging) cross-slot pass, but it gets deflected away.

6 in: Walman stretch to Toffoli who leads Celebrini with speed, Celebrini has a Grade-A that Ingram stops, then Celebrini crashes hard into the corner. Stayed down for a second, but he got up.

Macklin Celebrini with a great chance and then goes hard into the boards. He gets up and seems ok. pic.twitter.com/UrFreUbF4q

— JD Young (@MyFryHole) October 2, 2024

8 in: Smith right place, right time, intercepts ill-conceived exit pass, has a good chance from top of slot, misses high.

10 in: Smart play by Cagnoni, San Jose Sharks’ PP ending, Sharks have puck at blueline, but Cagnoni retreats to cover Yamamoto coming out of the box. Sharks lose puck, but you don’t mind that there, I think.

9 left: Puck in corner, Thompson does good job getting body position on Yamamoto, winning puck. But then Raty on forecheck on top of him, forces him to drop it off. No help, turnover.

Benning goal: Nice job by Eklund defensively high in DZ to force out earlier, then he carries it in, able to get it high.

Celebrini not on the bench…uh-oh.

Beaut Smith drop-off pass to Eklund, post.

2 left: Smith good stick on forecheck, steals it in slot, but then turns back to point for pass, no one there. He’ll learn to not waste a great opportunity like that. Close to a sensational play.

Durzi goal: 10 seconds left, San Jose Sharks almost got out of the period. But bigger concern is of course Celebrini.

Macklin Celebrini will not return for the third period with a lower-body injury.

Period 3

Yamamoto goal: Cagnoni not able to close on Hayton in corner, and Wennberg can’t stop the pass either, too easy for Yamamoto.

9 in: Ill-advised diagonal NZ pass by Cagnoni to Poturalski, that’s honestly a junior play, you can’t do that here unless you’re sure. Kolyachonok steps up on it, bats it away. Wrong place for a turnover.

Yamamoto goal: That was even easier for Utah. This one, I personally don’t put so much on Cagnoni. He was left in a bad position, had to contend with a 2-on-1 on entry. He took the man high, Hayton, who did beat him with a pretty pass — you definitely want a close there — then it was 2-on-1, Keller to Yamamoto. 2023-24 San Jose Sharks hockey there.