SAN JOSE – The importance of the Sharks’ game against the St. Louis Blues on Monday didn’t need to be reiterated to Macklin Celebrini, Alex Wennberg, or anyone else in a San Jose uniform.
Wennberg and Celebrini each had three points, and Adam Gaudette scored a go-ahead goal with 21 seconds left in the third period as the Sharks earned a thrilling 5-4 win over the Blues before an announced crowd of 16,031 at SAP Center.
Gaudette came down the left wing and fired a wrist shot that crept through the pads of Blues goalie Joel Hofer and slid over the goal line as the Sharks began a six-game homestand on a positive note.
“I was shooting that the whole way,” Gaudette said of his goal, his 16th of the season. “I heard (Zack Ostapchuk) yelling, but we had a ton of chances tonight, and we just said, ‘keep going. It’s going to break through at some point.’
“This late in the season, you need your fourth line to provide some offense for you when you need it.”
The Sharks had a two-goal lead late in the second period before they allowed power play goals to Philip Broberg and Cam Fowler, with Fowler’s goal at the 12:53 mark of the third period — after a tripping penalty on goalie Yaroslav Askarov — tying the game 4-4.
All three of Wennberg’s points, including both of his goals, came on the power play, and Celebrini’s three points gave him 101 on the season, as he became just the third player in the 35-year history of the Sharks organization to reach 100 points.
Joe Thornton had 114 points in 2006-07, and Erik Karlsson had 101 points in 2022-23, when he won his third Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman.
Celebrini joins Wayne Gretzky, Dale Hawerchuk, Mario Lemieux, Jimmy Carson, and Sidney Crosby as the only teenagers in NHL history to record 100 points in a single season.
Chants of “MVP, MVP” echoed throughout SAP Center after both of Celebrini’s goals, his 37th and 38th of the season.
“It’s pretty cool. Don’t really want to downplay that it was a goal of mine,” Celebrini said. “I didn’t really think I’d do it this year, but I’ve got a bunch of amazing teammates who have helped me get here.
“Our goal is to win every night.”
Especially now, as the Sharks, with Monday’s win, moved into a tie for 10th place in the Western Conference with the Seattle Kraken. Both teams have 75 points, two more than the Blues and now two fewer than the Nashville Predators for the second wild card spot in the West. The Sharks and Kraken are also one point behind the Los Angeles Kings.
The rest of the homestand will go a long way in determining whether the Sharks make the playoffs. The Sharks play the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday, the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday, the Predators on Saturday, the Chicago Blackhawks next Monday, and the Edmonton Oilers on April 8.
San Jose Sharks’ Macklin Celebrini (71) celebrates his goal, his second of the game, with teammates against the St. Louis Blues in the first period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
San Jose Sharks’ Macklin Celebrini (71) high-fives San Jose Sharks’ Dmitry Orlov (9) after his goal against the St. Louis Blues in the first period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
San Jose Sharks’ Macklin Celebrini (71) tries to get a shot off against St. Louis Blues’ Robert Thomas (18) in the first period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
San Jose Sharks’ Will Smith (2) takes a shot against St. Louis Blues’ Jonatan Berggren (29) in the first period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
San Jose Sharks’ Kiefer Sherwood (44) fights for the puck against St. Louis Blues’ Justin Holl (4) in the second period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
San Jose Sharks’ Barclay Goodrow (23) fights for the puck against St. Louis Blues’ Philip Broberg (6) in the second period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
San Jose Sharks goaltender Yaroslav Askarov (30) blocks a shot in front of St. Louis Blues’ Jake Neighbours (63) in the second period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
San Jose Sharks’ Macklin Celebrini (71) takes a shot against the St. Louis Blues in the third period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
San Jose Sharks’ Macklin Celebrini (71) tries to get a shot past St. Louis Blues goaltender Joel Hofer (30) in the first period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
San Jose Sharks’ Alexander Wennberg (21) is congratulated on his goal against the St. Louis Blues in the first period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
San Jose Sharks’ Adam Gaudette (81) takes a shot against the St. Louis Blues in the first period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
San Jose Sharks’ Macklin Celebrini (71) high-fives San Jose Sharks’ Tyler Toffoli (73) after Celebrini’s goal against the St. Louis Blues in the first period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
San Jose Sharks’ Igor Chernyshov (92) fights for the puck against the St. Louis Blues in the first period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
San Jose Sharks’ Adam Gaudette (81) takes a shot against the St. Louis Blues in the third period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
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San Jose Sharks’ Macklin Celebrini (71) celebrates his goal, his second of the game, with teammates against the St. Louis Blues in the first period at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Celebrini assisted on Wennberg’s power play goal at the 8:25 mark of the first period and scored his own goal on the man advantage 4:55 later to give him 100 points on the season and the Sharks an early 2-1 lead.
Celebrini, who entered Monday with 98 points in 71 games, then scored his second goal with 56 seconds left in the first period off a nice assist from Nick Leddy, giving the second-year forward a three-point first period and the Sharks a 3-2 lead.
Celebrini, 19, entered Monday as the NHL’s fourth-leading scorer, trailing only Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid (124 points), Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov (121 points), and Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (117 points).
The Sharks’ power play went 3-for-4, the first time they’ve had at least three goals with the man advantage since Jan. 10, when they went 4-for-6 in a 5-4 home win over the Dallas Stars. The Sharks had been 3-for-17 on the power play over the previous eight games.
“We talked about it (getting) in front of the net, and (scoring) maybe not the prettiest one,” Wennberg said. “The power play, we haven’t stepped up the way we’ve wanted to. So I feel like today was a great (game) by the special teams right there to make a difference.”