Macklin Celebrini reached 200 career points in the NHL on Wednesday night, becoming the fifth-youngest player in league history to hit the milestone — even as his San Jose Sharks fell 3-2 in a shootout to the Pittsburgh Penguins at SAP Center. The 20-year-old captain needed only 171 games to get there.
Celebrini broke up Sergei Murashov’s shutout bid at 11:32 of the third period, taking a feed from Michael Kesselring in the slot and beating the Penguins goaltender under the glove. The goal cut Pittsburgh’s lead to 2-1 and gave Celebrini his 200th career point, at 20 years and 151 days old. He then added his 201st point minutes later, threading a pass to Mason Marchment for the tying goal — Marchment’s 100th career goal — to send the game to overtime.
Elite company for the Sharks captain
According to NHL records, Celebrini became the fifth-fastest active player to reach 200 points, behind only Sidney Crosby (142 games), Alex Ovechkin (165), Evgeni Malkin (166) and Kirill Kaprizov (167). He is also the fastest player ever to start a career with the Sharks to reach the mark, beating Logan Couture’s previous franchise record of 273 games. His career totals now stand at 78 goals and 123 assists.
The milestone came in a losing cause, and that is the story of San Jose’s season. The Sharks have now lost six of their past seven games (1-5-1) and sit at 8-11-2, with scoring a constant struggle — this was their ninth straight game with three goals or fewer. As NBC Sports Bay Area put it after the game, right now the Sharks’ most dangerous player is Celebrini, Celebrini, Celebrini, Celebrini and Celebrini.
Kindel wins it in the shootout
Pittsburgh had built a two-goal lead before Celebrini sparked the comeback, and the Penguins recovered in the shootout, where Ben Kindel scored the only goal. Yaroslav Askarov made 33 saves for San Jose in defeat. The Sharks now head out on the road, visiting Utah on Saturday before returning home to face Nashville on Sunday, while Celebrini’s milestone gives a rebuilding franchise a rare piece of history to celebrate. Landeskog scored twice as the Avalanche beat the Maple Leafs 6-3 elsewhere in the NHL, and Kaprizov won it in overtime as the Wild edged the Canadiens 2-1 in Montreal.
