Yahoo Sports Sharks v. Golden Knights Preseason Player Spotlight: Macklin Celebrini Shines Bright In Debut
Macklin Celebrini made his San Jose Sharks debut against the Vegas Golden Knights and scored his first preseason goal.
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"He was good. He did some really good things with the puck. [There are] some things he needs to work on defensively, without the puck, the speed of the game for him," Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky said postgame. "He scores a big goal [and] gets us momentum. He did some really good things offensively, for sure."
First period:
Celebrini and the Sharks earned an early man advantage thanks to the No. 1 pick. The rookie drew the call on his first shift of the night.
The Sharks were not able to convert on the ensuing powerplay.
San Jose was held to five shots in the first frame. Late in the period, the Sharks and Golden Knights rivalry showed face as Celebrini was knocked down with a check. His linemate, Klim Kostin, quickly came to his support and threw his own check.
At 17:58, Givani Smith dropped the gloves but didn't have a dance partner, so he received a double minor for roughing and a ten-minute misconduct.
Second period:
Partway through the period, Celebrini pushed the defense back and dropped a puck to Mario Ferraro. Ferraro then found Kostin for a one-timer but was stopped.
On his next shift, Celebrini had his best chance of the game after he received a pass in the slot. He missed the net wide but has been around the high-danger areas of the ice more often.
This morning, Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky said the team needed to "rely more on their skill when the powerplay breaks down." Celebrini and the rest of the first powerplay unit didn't score but had great chances.
Third period:
The Sharks got their third powerplay of the evening, and this time, they made no mistake. Celebrini took a pass from Luca Cagnoni and one-timed it to the top corner.
"Just watching him, he's a very good skater. He's an amazing player," Celebrini said about Cagnoni. "What he's done in the rookie faceoff, and then done here and tonight, you can tell the skill he has and the hockey IQ he has, it's off the charts. It's been fun to play with him."
"Any time you can get the defensive team running around, whether it's five on five, four on four, or five on four, anytime you can get them running around and out of their structure, the better it is, and more lanes open up," Celebrini said postgame. "I feel like that's a goal for a lot of power plays."
"It's pretty easy for me. I just try to get [Celebrini] open, and he kind of does his stuff after that," Cagnoni said about playing with Celebrini on the powerplay. "I think we work the puck pretty good together."
San Jose converts on their second powerplay of the third period. Tyler Toffoli was on the doorstep, and Celebrini found him with a pretty assist.
"You saw tonight the things that he can do, not only scoring goals and the pass that he made to me, but I thought he did a really good job of staying low in the D zone and being really responsible," Toffoli said. "It's only one game, but he's been great all the way through camp so far."
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