Sharks young dynamic duo leading resurgence

SAN JOSE — Macklin Celebrini is very happy to have his winger Will Smith back on his line.

"Yeah I mean, obviously he's a special player," said Celebrini as he had missed having Smith out of action for 13 games. "I mean that's what he does. He makes special plays and he wasn't even looking at me, and he found me in the slot."

That pass Celebrini was referring to was when Smith sent a sharp no-look pass from along the boards right on to the tape of Macklin' stick and the NHL's 2024 number one overall pick blasted a one-timer past New York Ranger's goalie Spencer Martin for his second goal in the first period. Celebrini's 26th goal of the season gave the San Jose Sharks a 3-0 lead and had the Broadway Blueshirts reeling as they looked shellshocked. San Jose made those goals standup in their 3-1 win over New York this past Friday evening.

That goal was reminiscent when Joe Thronton made a no-look pass off of the boards to Patrick Marleau who also rifled in a one-timer in a game against the Dallas Stars back on December 5th, 2007. That play become known as "The Pass". Thornton and Marleau have had their jerseys retired by the Sharks recently with Jumbo being elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame last year with Marleau's name soon to be etched in there.

Earlier in the period Celebrini scored the first of his two goals 69 seconds into the game while San Jose was on the man advantage. Smith set up the play getting the puck down low to Tyler Tofolli who then centered the puck through the crease as the puck legally went off the skate of Celebrini. Pavel Regenda, who will be playing for the Slovakian hockey team the Olympics, sandwiched in a power play goal in between Mack's two goals two minutes later. It marked the seventh-fastest three goals from the start of a game in San Jose history. It’s the fastest since Dec. 21, 2011, against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Celebrini became the second-youngest active player to reach the 50-goal benchmark, behind Sidney Crosby (19 years, 120 days).

Smith missed 13 games when he suffered an upper body injury back in December. You would have never known that as the chemistry between him and Celebrini has picked up where it left in the four games since returning back to the lineup and the Sharks' number one line.

"Yeah it's really big," said Smith regarding playing again with his best friend on the team. "It was rough watching 13 games sitting up in the stands. So, it's nice to be back with those two."

San Jose is currently in the second wild card spot in the Western Conference with 55 points. They are also only two points behind the Anaheim Ducks for third place in the Pacific Division. In fact there are four teams, including the Los Angeles Kings and Seattle Kraken, that are separated by just four points for the third spot in the division. With the playoff race so tightly packed, the Sharks will need to continue to have games like they did against the Rangers. For the majority of the game, they dominated play, had good puck management and stellar goaltending, which they had from Alex Nedeljkovic who made 28 saves on 29 shots.

Nedeljkovic has won five straight games as he shares the crease with Yaroslav Askarov. Nedeljkovic made keys saves, including a breakaway by Artemi Panarin in the first period that could have changed the momentum for New York and cut San Jose's lead to just one goal.

"Yeah he made some huge saves," said Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky about his goaltender. "He makes that save on Panarin on the breakaway. (The Mika) Zibanejad save as well. He made some big saves, and I thought he was really locked in and focused."

San Jose has played its last home game before the Olympic break. The next time they host a game at The Tank will be on Thursday February 26th against the Calgary Flames. But before they can relax for three weeks and recharge for the final playoff push, Team Teal will finish with five games on the road before the break. They start with three games in Western Canada before finishing with games against Chicago and Colorado.

"(It's a) big, big five game stretch. We know that. Our players know that. There's no secret. You can sense the intensity is getting ramped up. Obviously, everyone is talking about the standings and where we are and where other teams are what have you. But we'll ignore the noise to be honest with you. This is a big five game stretch," Warsofsky said.