Celebrini Scores 1st Goal in Hometown Vancouver, But Sharks Lose 2-1 in OT

The San Jose Sharks take on the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena.

Macklin Celebrini scored, but the Sharks lost their 10th straight, 2-1 in OT.

Period 1

Lines tonight:

Kovalenko-Celebrini-Smith
Eklund-Wennberg-Toffoli
Gushchin-Dellandrea-Lund
Grundstrom-Goodrow-Gregor

Thrun-Liljegren
Cagnoni-Carlsson
Vlasic-Schuldt

2 in: Disorganized-looking power play. Looks like they’re trying to balance PP units. PP1: Cagnoni-Celebrini-Kovalenko-Toffoli-Smith, PP2: Liljegren-Eklund-Gushchin-Wennberg-Lund. Nice bump for Kovalenko, be watching him and Gushchin and Cagnoni closest tonight.

8 in: Nice little pass from Dellandrea to Gushchin in slot.

5 left: Gushchin kind of fumbling the puck at blueline, not being assertive in a dangerous place, don’t like that.

2 left: Solid-looking defensive shift from Cagnoni. Times putting his body on Blueger as puck is coming in. Effort is there and some defensive instincts.

Good start for Georgiev, he could use it.

Period 2

Like Kovalenko jumping Garland, as Liljegren trails Garland to force the turnover. Then like Drew notes, Kovalenko gives it to Celebrini, but smartly skates ahead of Celebrini, pulling two Canucks toward him. Making space for Celebrini.

3 in: Surprised Toffoli didn’t shoot in the slot there on the PP. Kovalenko had done a nice job fighting Hronek in the slot for the puck.

Celebrini goal: Whoa what a shot, Celebrini just snipes it on Nikita Tolopilo, making his NHL debut.

5 in: Gushchin does a nice job beating his check down the ice, that’s Suter, Dellandrea finds him in slot. He’s shown some good pop so far though.

7 in: Nice vision by Kovalenko, lays it into weakside for Liljegren to jump on.

4 left: Schuldt absolutely blows up Raty, clean, feet down, though Remenda is right, Schuldt chased the hit there a little. For some reason, afterwards, Marcus Pettersson smacked an unsuspecting Celebrini in the back, not too hard. I don’t know if that was a case of mistaken identity.

1 left: Georgiev has been great tonight, big save on O’Connor shortie attempt. Ugly San Jose Sharks power play again.

Period 3

Not just Kovalenko, but along the wall, trying to exit, that’s got to get all the way out. Young mistake, but Kovalenko is 25. There’s a player there, if he was 18 or 20 or maybe even 23, you’re pretty excited by the flashes. But a lot of details, lacks consistency, now I watch him really close.

2 in: Like that from Gushchin, fakes going high, then spins and make the pass down low.

Dellandrea penalty: Shame, he’s had a pretty good game tonight, feeding Gushchin, being a pest. Big kill coming up.

Really strong San Jose Sharks PK there, for once. Gregor with a chance, Eklund did a nice job protecting puck from Karlsson to kill time. Beleaguered unit needs this.

Karlsson goal: But then Celebrini gets beat down the ice, looks like Celebrini got caught flat-footed in neutral zone forecheck, he tried to get back, but the Canucks rush had too much momentum, the defense couldn’t step up on it. Too easy. Shame for Georgiev, who has been very good tonight.

9 left: Back-and-forth sequence, good goaltending from both sides, Tolopilo on Toffoli, Georgiev on Blueger. Wennberg does a nice job staying with Hughes, who still hits the open man high.

4 left: Kovalenko has trouble getting it out from behind net, though it was also a little of a gimmicky pass from Celebrini, didn’t put his teammate in a great position.

2 left: Good fight by Gushchin in DZ corner, holds off Canucks on forecheck, gets it somewhere that his linemates can get it out. I’ve liked him tonight, I wonder how he’d do with Smith and Celebrini. I suspect, maybe having played here in North America so long, his game might be safer than Kovalenko’s? Just a thought. Kovalenko has certainly showed some promise in his recent stretch playing with Celebrini and Smith though.

OT

Wennberg-Eklund-Liljegren to start.

2 left: Celebrini icing, 1:08 left, wonder why the Sharks didn’t use their timeout there.

1 left: But now, the Sharks take their timeout, 46 seconds left. Another DZ draw.