SAN JOSE – If the San Jose Sharks have designs on making the playoffs for the first time since 2019, they’ll need to take care of business against the teams that have pretty much raised the white flag on their respective seasons.

Fortunately for the Sharks, they happen to play quite a few games against those kinds of teams between now and the middle of April.

Friday’s game was against the New York Rangers, who have put up the for-sale sign on some of their veteran players, and had won just one of their last eight before their game at SAP Center.

With that backdrop, the Sharks did what they had to do, getting two first period goals from Macklin Celebrini and a solid performance from goalie Alex Nedeljkovic in a 3-1 win over the Rangers before an energetic sellout crowd of 17,435 – buoyed somewhat by a mashup 49ers shirsy giveaway — at SAP Center.

The Sharks are now 14-9-3 at home this season, and Friday’s game marked the team’s sixth sellout crowd in its last seven home games.

“In warmups, I was like, ‘This place is pumped,’” said Will Smith, who had two assists Friday and now has four points in four games since his return from an upper body injury. “So I knew it was going to be a big night, especially with an Original Six team here. That was super cool.”

Celebrini’s goals came at the 1:09 and 7:37 marks of the first period, with his second giving the Sharks a 3-0 lead. His first goal, off a pass from Tyler Toffoli, came on the power play and snapped San Jose’s 0-for-13 skid with the man advantage.

Celebrini, Smith and Collin Graf combined for six points as the Sharks swept their season series with the Rangers. Celebrini had three goals and two assists, and Smith had two goals and two assists in the Sharks’ 6-5 overtime win over the Rangers in New York on Oct. 23, San Jose’s first victory of the season.

The Sharks’ next home is on Feb. 26 against the Flames, as they finish their pre-Olympic schedule with a five-game road trip with stops in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Chicago and Colorado.

“The energy and how loud they were, we definitely felt it,” Celebrini said of the crowd. “It sucks that we only come home for one because I know they’d be coming every night. I think once we got up on that lead, it was great to have them behind us.”

The Sharks have now sold out 12 of their 26 home games so far this season, compared to last season when only 15 of 41 home games were at capacity.

“Oh, it’s crazy,” Smith said. “I think if you came to a game last year and then this year, you’d be pretty surprised. I think that also comes with the team doing a lot better. We’ve been saying we want to get it back to the old Shark Tank, and it’s getting there.”

Pavol Regenda also scored a power play goal in the first period as the Sharks improved to 9-4-0 since the Christmas break.

Nedeljkovic made 22 saves through the first two periods, finished with 28, and has now won five straight games for the first time since his NHL debut in Jan. 2017. He’s played in 202 NHL games.

Before Friday, Nedeljkovic was 4-0-0 with a .922 save percentage in his last four appearances. His last start came on Monday when he stopped 35 shots, and fought Sergei Bobrovsky, in the Sharks’ 4-1 win over the Florida Panthers.

Of the Sharks’ next five opponents, only the Avalanche, the NHL’s first place team, and the Oilers, the Pacific Division’s second place team, are realistically expected to make the playoffs.

After the break, the Sharks play 26 games in just over seven weeks. Of those games, only 11 are against teams that entered Friday in a playoff spot. They play three more games against the St. Louis Blues after the break, two more against the Blackhawks and Winnipeg Jets and one more against the Flames and Canucks.

Via points percentage, it’s the easiest remaining strength of schedule of any NHL team.

Whether that helps the Sharks make the playoffs for the first time in seven years remains to be seen. San Jose enters Saturday as the Western Conference’s second wild card team with 55 points, and two points back of the Anaheim Ducks for third place in the Pacific Division.

“We know where we are in the standings and that every game is important,” said Regenda, whose six goals since his recall from the AHL leads the Sharks. “I feel like every guy in this locker room is on a mission to get the playoff spot.”