It did not take long for Macklin Celebrini to make an impact in his first competitive game in a San Jose Sharks uniform on Friday.
Playing for the first time in nearly four months, the 18-year-old Celebrini scored a third-period power-play goal and finished with five shots in the Sharks’ 3-2 win over the Utah Hockey Club at the Rookie Faceoff at the Toyota Performance Center in El Segundo.
Forward Ethan Cardwell scored the game-winning goal at the 16:09 mark of the third period as the Sharks earned a come-from-behind victory to start the event, which features prospects from seven NHL teams.
Celebrini’s goal came at the 5:42 mark of the third. He started the sequence by winning a faceoff inside the Utah zone before he drifted back to the blue line, collected the puck, skated along the wall, and fed it back to defenseman Luca Cagnoni.
CELEBRINI POWER PLAY GOAL 2-2 #SJSharks pic.twitter.com/V9U9DgxJrT
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Cagnoni then skated along the blue line before he passed it back to Celebrini, who faked a one-timer, took a stride, and fired the puck past Utah goalie Anson Thornton.
Forward Luke Grainger scored an even-strength goal in the first period, and goalie Georgi Romanov made 18 saves for the Sharks, who finished with 47 shots on net against Utah, a franchise that features new ownership after it was relocated from Arizona to Salt Lake City this offseason.
All eyes, though, were on Celebrini, who became the first player to be taken No. 1 overall by the Sharks at the NHL Draft in Las Vegas in June.
Celebrini began the game centering the Sharks’ top line with Kasper Halttunen and childhood friend Carson Wetsch on his wings and the No. 1 power-play unit with Will Smith, Quentin Musty, Collin Graf, and Cagnoni.
Celebrini showed off his quick release on more than one occasion and, on the power play, used his skating to often lead entries into the offensive zone.
It was a solid opening game for the Celebrini and the Sharks, who next play the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. San Jose then closes the event with a game against the Colorado Avalanche on Monday at 11:30 a.m.
Earlier this week, Celebrini said he simply wanted to “have some fun kind of build relationship with my new teammates, and just enjoy going to L.A. for a couple games.”
The Sharks’ front office, too, didn’t necessarily expect Celebrini or fellow
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