It would appear the San Jose Sharks’ future is in good hands.
Macklin Celebrini, the No. 1 overall pick in this past summer’s NHL draft, and Will Smith, the No. 4 overall selection in 2023, each had a goal and an assist as the Sharks defeated the Seattle Kraken 8-5 in a Black Friday matinee.
The Pacific Division rivals will complete their home-and-home series Saturday night in Seattle.
Celebrini has four goals over the past three games and Smith put together his third straight multi-point effort (two goals, four assists), as the Sharks improved to 2-2-1 over their past five contests.
Celebrini became the second 18-year-old in franchise history to score in at least three consecutive games. Jeff Friesen tallied in five in a row in 1994-95.
The offensive output was San Jose’s largest since an 8-2 victory against Philadelphia on Oct. 9, 2018. It came two games after a 7-2 victory against visiting Los Angeles on Monday.
The Sharks’ Ethan Cardwell, playing in his fourth game, added his first NHL goal. Cardwell converted a wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff circle at 7:37 of the third period to give San Jose a two-goal cushion.
“I think I blacked out there for a minute,” Cardwell said of his goal. “It was an awesome moment, everything I dreamed of. To have a crowd go crazy like that and see all the boys’ excitement to come to the bench made it all that much worth it.”
Klim Kostin, moved up in the lineup, added a Gordie Howe hat trick — a goal, assist and fight — for San Jose.
“I didn’t expect (to play with Mikael Granlund and Smith) when I go to the rink,” Kostin said. “When I saw the lineup, I was like, ‘Hey man, you gotta take that opportunity to prove yourself that you can play hockey.'”
Still, Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky didn’t seem completely pleased.
“It was whoever wanted to play defense would probably win the hockey game,” Warsofsky said. “(There are) some things we got to look at and be better for (Saturday).”
Kraken coach Dan Bylsma paused and chose his words carefully when asked a question in a postgame news scrum.
“The finishing statement will be that we gave them a lot of opportunities to demonstrate their skill,” Bylsma said.
The Kraken received two power-play goals from Shane Wright, the No. 4 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, and Chandler Stephenson added a goal and two assists. Oliver Bjorkstrand had one goal and one assist but netminder Philipp Grubauer stopped just 19 of 26 shots to drop to 1-7-0 this season.
“Just not the type of game we want to get into,” said Wright, who has five points (three goals, two assists) in three games since returning to the lineup after spending three contests as a healthy scratch. “Any time you give up eight goals, it’s not going to end well for you.”
Bjorkstrand said the Kraken are intent on bouncing back Saturday.
“We have something to prove,” Bjorkstrand said. “It’s going to be a statement game, that we’re not going to have very many of these.”
–Field Level Media
