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Quick bites: Sharks beat Wild in overtime, finish road trip .500

Posted on by Erika Towne

It’s hard to say if the San Jose Sharks as a team have figured out how to win close games, but there’s one player on the Sharks who has definitely figured it out – Macklin Celebrini. It’s because of Celebrini that the Sharks beat the Minnesota Wild 6-5 in overtime last night and finished the four-game road trip with a .500 record.

The 19-year-old forward put together another multi-point game, saving his most important point for the very end of the night. Celebrini sprinted onto the ice after a very tired William Eklund made a risky change to get off the ice after a too-long shift. For more than 3:30 the Minnesota Wild had the Sharks (Eklund, Alex Wennberg and Timothy Liljegren) hemmed in and would not allow them to change. While the trio did a good job of keeping the Wild to the perimeter and limiting scoring chances, there was no opportunity to change. Finally, Eklund managed to find an opening and get off. Celebrini jumped on just in time to snag a rebound shot off of Yaroslav Askarov’s pads and head the other way.

We’ll let Randy Hahn explain the rest.

Celebrini’s game winner puts him in some rarified company. In fact, this road trip has caused the kid to heat up. In nine games, Celebrini has 15 points (6 G, 9 A). There are very few teens who have hit those levels. According to the Sharks’ PR team, only two teens have ever had more points than that through nine games – Bryan Trottier, who had 18 in 1976, and Wayne Gretzky, who had 16 in 1981.

Celebrini has the same number as Sidney Crosby had in nine games in 2007, his third year in the league. Elias Pettersson had 15 points in nine games his rookie season (2018).

In addition to his goal and two assists, Celebrini was also good in the faceoff circle. Natural Stat Trick reports he was 80% last night, winning 16 of the 20 faceoffs he took.

Eklund takes the reins

In the past few games, it has been Celebrini and Will Smith taking over the game and scoring for the Sharks. This time around, it was Eklund playing a key role in the scoring as well. Eklund was the primary offensive driver for the Sharks last night, according to the Hockey Stats Card, a good sign for the #TheFutureIsTeal moving forward.

Eklund finished the night with two goals and an assist. He was also on the ice for a majority of the overtime and made the aggressive change that ultimately led to the Celebrini overtime goal.

The forward has also started to heat up this season and has seven points (3 G, 4 A) on the road trip. He’s now second on the team with nine points. Getting Eklund going could be a big part of turning the Sharks’ season around.

Sharks need better discipline

One of the more concerning trends that developed on this road trip is the Sharks’ penchant for taking penalties and, worse, allowing power play goals. The Sharks took four penalties last night and allowed two power play goals. Over the course of the road trip, the Sharks took a total of 16 penalties and allowed seven power plays. If there’s something the team will need to work on during this homestand, it’s going to be the penalty kill.

Of course, being more disciplined could be a good place to start. Taking interference, holding and puck over glass penalties usually have to do with poor positioning or being behind the play. With better discipline, the Sharks would be drawing those penalties instead of taking them.

Askarov was good against the Wild

And let’s not hang the 6-5 score on goaltender Yaroslav Askarov, yes, the score shows that he let in five goals, but when you look at Natural Stat Trick’s numbers, he wasn’t far off on his goals against compared to his expected goals against. His goals against average was 4.70 and his expected goals against was 4.19.

There was a fluky goal that tied the game in the third that he could do nothing about and he was, overall, solid in the net for the Sharks. He came up big in overtime for the Sharks and it’s certainly another good outing for the young goaltender. He made the saves when the Sharks needed them.

Gaudette’s injury could lead to future roster moves

Adam Gaudette left last night’s game midway through the second period, and it could lead to future roster moves, potentially giving a young player like Ethan Cardwell a shot during this upcoming homestand.

Gaudette had been a pleasant surprise, adding depth to the Sharks’ forward group. It will be a disappointment if he’s out for an extended period of time, as he has found chemistry with Michael Misa and Collin Graf, creating scoring depth for the third line.

Highlight

Which leads us to the highlight of the night, Misa’s first as a Shark. Liljegren does all the work, weaving his way through the Minnesota defense and Misa is there to pick up the rebound for the tap-in goal. It’s an easy first goal and it won’t be Misa’s last.

Scoring summary San Jose Sharks at Minnesota Wild Oct. 26, 2025

First period
5:28 SJS William Eklund from Macklin Celebrini and Dmitry Orlov on the power play
13:35 SJS Michael Misa from Timothy Liljegren
17:02 MIN Marcus Johansson from Marco Rossi and Brock Faber on the power play
17:34 MIN Marco Rossi from Kirill Kaprizov

Second period
11:15 SJS William Eklund from Philipp Kurashev
11:34 SJS Ryan Reaves from Barclay Goodrow and Ty Dellandrea

Third period
4:28 MIN Ryan Hartman from Kirill Kaprizov and Brock Faber on the power play
7:52 SJS Tyler Toffoli from Macklin Celebrini and William Eklund on the power play
8:28 MIN Zeev Buium from Ryan Hartman and Yakov Trenin
17:42 MIN Joel Eriksson Ek from Kirill Kaprizov and Brock Faber

Overtime
3:47 SJS Macklin Celebrini unassisted

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