Sharks’ Macklin Celebrini etches name in NHL history vs. Canucks originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

There are a lot of great young talents in the NHL but a vast majority of them need time to develop. The San Jose Sharks, on the other hand, might not have to wait that long as Macklin Celebrini continues to shine for their squad. He left it all on the ice in their 5-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks to start his chase for greatness early like Sidney Crosby and Wayne Gretzky.

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2024 first overall pick torches Vancouver

Coach Ryan Warsofsky knew how important this game was for Celebrini. The Sharks rising star grew up watching the Canucks because he was from Vancouver so it was clear that there was an intention to make the home crowd cheer for something. He gave him just that. On 17:38 minutes of playing time, he was given the green light to playmake and run the offense.

Celebrini started things off with a goal to tie the game at the 1:51 mark in the first period. He then continued the assault against the Canucks defense by dishing out an assist to Adam Gaudette three minutes after his own goal. The Sharks rising star would then close the game out with his assists to Will Smith and John Klingberg.

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By the end of it all, Celebrini had scored four points for the fourth time in his career. He now ties Jimmy Carson for the fourth-most by a teenager in NHL history. However, the clock is ticking if he wants to go higher up on that ladder before his birthday on June 13. Wayne Gretzky leads that list with 14 four-point games while Sidney Crosby has eight and Dale Hawerchuk follows with seven.

However, Celebrini is not thinking too much of that record. He was just happy to be back at the place where he grew up, via Kevin Woodley of NHL.com.

“It’s always special coming back home… That’s what we’ve done a really good job of this year is when teams kind of push back on us, or try to get on their front foot, we do a good job of just kind of handling it, weathering it, and getting back to our game,” he said about how the Sharks managed to get the win despite an early 1-0 deficit.

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Notably, Celebrini’s father used to work for the Canucks while he was growing up. So, it was not just about going back to Vancouver but going full circle in a dream that he always wanted to fulfill. Records aside, he has gone so far in his career as a kid from the North.

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