The San Jose Sharks are playing some of the best hockey we’ve seen in years and fans are eating it up. With the team’s 2-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets last night, the Sharks have officially hit a .500 record, something that hadn’t happened since the 2010s we think. How long the Sharks stay here could be fleeting; the team is back at it today against the Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers, who did not play yesterday. That said, we’re focused on last night’s win for a few moments, and it was well earned.
Looking at Natural Stat Trick’s game flow chart, you can see that from about midway through the second period on, the Sharks really hit the gas.
San Jose took over puck possession, pushing the pace and dominating zone time. In the third, the team came out and resumed the same mentality. This was a free-flowing game with very few whistles and fewer penalties. The Sharks hung with the Jets at 5v5 and even outplayed them, showing the league just how far San Jose has come from two seasons ago, when the team was deep in the NHL’s basement.
As Alex Wennberg said postgame, this is how the Sharks want to play.
“I mean, we got to play to our identity, and it’s going to be like getting pucks down deep. We got to forecheck, we got to skate hard,” said Wennberg. “It doesn’t always be the prettiest games, but I mean, for us, this is perfect. This is our identity. This is what we talk about. Have that high energy and just keep going at it. So right now, it’s a good executed game.”
This game against the Jets showed the difference in the way San Jose has played recently, and it’s no wonder that the team is on a five-game point streak, good enough for (checks notes) fifth in the Western Conference wild card race as of this morning.
No teeth, no problem
All this talk, and we haven’t even mentioned Macklin Celebrini. He of the league-leading 23 points. That’s right. As of this morning, Celebrini sits alone atop the NHL scoring leaderboard, one point above some kid named Connor Bedard. Both kids had amazing nights last night. Bedard scored four points, one on an impressive takeaway, but we’re talking about our boy here.
Let’s kick things off with how things started for Mack last night, as in, not good. He took a high stick in the first period and lost part of a few of his teeth.
Celebrini draws a 4 min power play. Sharks on the PP pic.twitter.com/0xh5ZxkMYm
— JD Young (@MyFryHole) November 8, 2025
The Sharks did not score on the power play, but Celebrini wasn’t happy. Losing a few teeth didn’t slow him down, though. Just over a minute after the Jets broke open the scoring, Celebrini answered with a goal of his own. We have to show this angle first because that pickup and then pass from Tyler Toffoli to put the puck on Celebrini’s stick is *chef’s kiss*.
You can take his teeth but you can't take his spirit 😤 pic.twitter.com/mFesqcMdtB
— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) November 8, 2025
And then there’s this angle, because in case you forgot, that’s reigning Vezina and Hart trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck in the net. The way Celebrini holds onto the puck to wait Hellebuyck out and beat him is incredibly hard.
Another look at Mack's saucy finish 🙌 pic.twitter.com/yC5kPPEEMD
— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) November 8, 2025
Celebrini wasn’t done for the night either. He would go on to add an assist on Will Smith’s game-winning goal.
Philipp Kurashev gets most of the credit for making the entire play happen. He drives below the boards and then kicks the puck out front to Smith. Smith’s ability to find Celebrini with just a quick tap pass is impressive. The chemistry between the two players is off the charts. Then, Smith picks up the puck behind Hellebuyck for the goal.
Alex Nedeljkovic appreciation section
Finally, while the Sharks played very well last night, this win would not have happened if Alex Nedeljkovic had not been just a little bit better than Hellebuyck. We’re not saying that Nedeljkovic is a Vezina candidate, but we are saying that last night, he was on his game.
There was this save in the first period where he was literally in the net and pulled himself out of the net to make a save.
Then there was this.
Okay. It was slow motion, but in real time, the speed at which he moved across that crease to stop that shot from Vladislav Namestnikov was incredible. Namestnikov didn’t even load up; he just fired, but Nedeljkovic was there.
Finally, what Nedeljkovic did in the waning seconds of the game secured the victory for the Sharks. Here it is at full speed.
And then from a few other angles and slowed down.
Nedeljkovic stopped 32 of the 33 shots he faced last night. He allowed one goal and had an expected goals against average of 3.63, according to Natural Stat Trick. He stopped 13 of 13 high-danger chances. After the game, Nedeljkovic said when both he and Yaroslav Askarov are going at the same time, it’s a lot of fun.
“Ultimately, if we’re both playing really good hockey, then we’re giving the guys in front of us a chance to win every single night, and they’re playing with confidence every single night,” said Nedeljkovic. “Doesn’t matter who’s in the net. They don’t have to worry about, you know, Ned’s in net tonight, maybe we got to be a little bit more detailed, or whatever. No, we just go out and guys play, don’t think, and have fun, and it’s been a blast.”
Scoring summary Winnipeg Jets at San Jose Sharks Nov. 7, 2025
First period
12:34 WPG Josh Morrissey from Nino Niederreiter
13:46 SJS Macklin Celebrini from Tyler Toffoli
Second period
No scoring
Third period
15:39 SJS Will Smith from Macklin Celebrini and Philipp Kurashev
