Celebrini's epic night leads Sharks past Flames 6-3

SAN JOSE — On a night where the Sharks were looking to build on the momentum from a dramatic come from behind victory in Pittsburgh, it was the fourth line that helped the Sharks maintain their winning energy. San Jose defeated the Calgary Flames by a score of 6-3 on Tuesday at the Tank.

While the skills of their young players were on display, (mainly Macklin Celebrini), Barclay Goodrow and his linemates made significant contributions to the victory. Getting contributions from the checking line will be key for the Sharks going forward as they encounter different play styles that require a more physical presence. Of course, it was fun to see Celebrini set up John Klingberg with a near-perfect pass to open the scoring 62 seconds into the game.

And it was just as fun watching Goodrow hustle down the ice to catch the Flames defense flat-footed when they anticipated an icing call to score the second goal of the game at the six-minute mark of the first period.

Having scored two goals, the crowd was into it and the “We want tacos” chants began to rain down from the rafters as fans were yearning for one more goal to get hard shell delight from their favorite fast-food chain Taco Bell.

But when Calgary began to find its footing and tied the game up with consecutive goals from Blake Coleman and Ryan Lomberg, it would have been easy for the young team with key players missing from the line up to get back on their heels.

That's the direction things appeared to be heading late in the first period before Goodrow got another tally by tapping the puck into the net after Celebrini generated a scoring chance in front. This goal that helped recapture the lead.

While it wasn't a highlight reel play, Goodrow said that kind of energy around the net is what he and his linemates hope to bring to the table.

“That's the kind of game we try to bring every night,” Goodrow said. “We try to keep it simple, try to play in the offensive zone as much as possible and try to be as physical as we can. We try to play a simple brand of hockey.”

If that simple brand of hockey keeps allowing fans to claim free tacos after the game, I'm sure here won't be any complaints from those in attendance.

But after a first period that saw five goals combined from both sides, the second period ended up being a scoreless grind. The Sharks still maintained their 3-2 edge at the second intermission, but the period wasn't without action. The fourth line of Goodrow, Zack Ostapchuk, and Ryan Reaves was looking to take body shots whenever they were on the ice. Reaves threw a check on Calgary's Adam Kapla deep in the Sharks zone that got the crowd buzzing late in the second period and Ostapchuk seemed to be laying out hits on every shift he was out there. Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said it was good to watch his team's strongest forecheckers excel in their role when the team needed it most.

“That's their identity. They've done it pretty consistently all year,” Warsofsky said. “When we need some energy, when we need a shift in the forecheck, they bring it. They know exactly what their role is.”

After a third period that highlighted the Sharks ability to grind out a physical game when necessary, Celebrini once again put his skill set on display after taking a pass from Colin Graf and pulling off a spin-o-rama move for a goal that was so slick, even the young star couldn't help but to celebrate with a little vigor.

Celebrini, who is always low key even when describing his prettiest goal of the year so far, said that he was the beneficiary of a good pass and a lucky bounce on that play.

“Graf made a good play on the wall to intercept it and found me in the middle, but it was all kind of reactionary,” Celebrini said. “But it was a little lucky since it goes off my hip.”

I'll give credit to Flames net minder Dustin Wolf for partially stopping the initial shot and yes, the puck did ricochet off of Celebrini on the play but that spin move leading up to the shot landed on Sportscenter's top plays for a reason. No amount of modesty will make me un-see how cool that was as I looked around the press area at my fellow media members to confirm what we all just saw.

Celebrini would eventually add an empty netter in the final seconds of the game, but the Sharks really cemented the victory with a milestone 300th goal from Tyler Toffoli on an assist from William Eklund. The milestone was acknowledged on the jumbotron when Toffoli skated back to the bench, giving fans another chance to cheer for one of their veteran leaders. Toffoli said he looks forward to talking to his dad about it after the game.

“It was really cool and having the guys be happy for me goes a long way and I'm assuming my dad is gonna be pumped about this one too. It was on his birthday actually, which is kind of cool,” Toffoli said.

Milestones and highlight goals aside, the second period really exemplified what the Sharks will have to be consistently good at if they want to stay in the playoff spot they currently occupy. Players like Toffoli and Celebrini will normally be able to find their way onto the score sheet but when the game slows down and their opponents look to muck it up with physical play, the Sharks need to respond like they did in the second period.

Simply put, the fourth line needs to continue to do fourth line things which is being physical while staying out of the penalty box and limiting scoring chances just as they did against Calgary. It was a complete game from all four lines and not merely the Sharks trying to keep their heads above water while they wait for Celebrini and their top line to generate just enough offense for them to eke by.

With such a solid top-to-bottom effort, my only complaint was that Will Smith wasn't in the lineup for the Sharks: 90's themed night that featured music from over 30 years ago and a playing of the extended version of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song during the first intermission. Hopefully the Sharks don't make him rap the song on the spot again like ESPN forced him to do on draft day.

If San Jose can get Smith and the injured Philipp Kurashev back in the lineup with this kind of play from the bottom six forwards, San Jose will be tough to beat.