The San Jose Sharks lost Igor Chernyshov to a frightening injury early in Saturday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens, but managed to collect themselves and come away with the 4-2 win on the road. The scary incident happened when Chernyshov, carrying the puck up the ice, collided with Mike Matheson.
A word of warning before you watch the video, it’s not easy to watch.
There was no call on the play and, perhaps even more angering, no five minute major called simply so the refs could review the footage and get a call correct. Whether deliberate or not in causing the fall, Matheson clearly made contact with Chernyshov, instigating the turn of events. What’s more, his stick appeared to get caught up in Chernyshov’s skates, causing the young forward to lose his balance and go down hard. Chernyshov struggled to get up after the play and had to be helped off the ice.
Chernyshov didn’t return to the game, though he was with the team afterwards. According to San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng, the forward went to the hospital and was released. He is cleared to travel with the team to Ottawa.
For what it’s worth, Vincent Desharnais said that Matheson and a few other Habs went to him after the first period to check in on how Chernyshov was doing.
Postgame, Matheson seemed to believe it was like any other play until he turned around and saw Chernyshov stumbling.
The play happened just a few minutes into the first period and it could have taken the entire team out of the game, but the Sharks hung in there. While some fans might have liked to see a stronger physical response from the Sharks after a play like that, the team did the one thing that it needed to do the most, it claimed the two points.
The Goals That Weren’t Goals
As if that weren’t enough of a reason for fans to be unhappy with the officiating in this game, there were two goals called off, one for each team.
In the first period, it looked like the Habs took the lead when Lane Hutson found the back of the net with a scramble for the puck in front of Alex Nedeljkovic. But the goal was quickly waved off and as the officials grouped up to talk things over and then review the tape, they determined that the whistle had been blown before the goal was scored. The quick whistle helped the Sharks in that case.
However, in the second frame, a goal by Macklin Celebrini to start the period was also called back, this one after an offsides challenge. While the call was ultimately right, the frustration for many hockey fans might be the implementation of the rule in this case. Celebrini and the Sharks had the zone for several seconds before the scoring play even developed. What’s more, it was a hairline offsides.
What resulted was an officiating review that took several minutes to conduct, slowing the game to a standstill. While getting the call right is important, Sharks fans might feel that in this game, they’d rather see the right call on the play against Chernyshov, than on a scoring play involving an offsides that close involving either team.
Celebrini Continues to Drag this Team to the Playoffs
A bit of hyperbole, but not much. Celebrini finished the game with another three points and was once again the best player on the ice for the Sharks.
With two goals and an assist, Celebrini now has 35 goals on the season and 94 points. With the game, Celebrini continues to work his way through the history books. According to NHL.com, it’s Celebrini’s 41st multi-point game, passing Brian Bellows for seventh most as a teenager. While he has work to do to catch Sidney Crosby, who leads the list with 67, or Wayne Gretzky who has 66 games, Steve Yzerman (42) and Ron Francis (43) are well within reach. Celebrini might even be able to catch number four on the list, Jimmy Carson (51), or number three, Dale Hawerchuk (66).
Scoring Summary San Jose Sharks at Montreal Canadiens, March 14, 2026
First Period
7:21 MON Cole Caufield from Juraj Slafkovsky and Noah Dobson
13:12 SJS Macklin Celebrini from Collin Graf and John Klingberg
Second Period
11:56 SJS Mario Ferraro from Alex Wennberg and William Eklund
16:20 SJS Collin Graf from Macklin Celebrini and John Klingberg
17:38 MON Nick Suzuki from Ivan Demidov and Noah Dobson
Third Period
17:57 SJS Macklin Celebrini from Collin Graf and Barclay Goodrow into the empty net
