LAS VEGAS — “It’s a non-issue.”

That’s how Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky and center Macklin Celebrini view Celebrini’s double-minor penalty in Friday’s 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks.

With 1:24 left in the game and San Jose leading 3-2, Celebrini was called for cross-checking Filip Hronek, then given an unsportsmanlike conduct by the officials.

A day later, both Celebrini and Warsofsky still were not sure why the young star was given the extra two.

“I didn’t agree with the call,” Celebrini told San Jose Hockey Now. “I certainly don’t believe that what I said before the box deserved [an extra penalty]. I didn’t swear, I didn’t come at them.”

“It’s not like it was over the top. He didn’t swear. I asked the ref if he swore,” Warsofsky said of Celebrini’s initial reaction to the cross-checking penalty. “We didn’t agree with the [initial] call. I thought it was a little weak to give him an extra two.”

This was the explanation that Warsofsky got for the unsportsmanlike conduct: “He did say he didn’t like how we pointed, to be honest.”

Warsofsky wasn’t sure what that meant.

Garrett Rank and Riley Brace were the two referees who officiated the game.

In the box, Celebrini’s frustration boiled over, knowing a double-minor with 1:24 to go could mean that he’d sit potentially more than half of OT if the Canucks had managed to tie the game in regulation.

“It was more just putting my team in a bad spot. I knew that part of the time of the game, what that kind of penalty created for our group, the situation,” Celebrini said. “You don’t ever want to put your team in that kind of situation off a play that doesn’t need to happen. That was just where the frustration came from.”

So it was a sigh of a relief for Celebrini when his teammates picked him up and sealed the Sharks’ victory.

“That was great,” Celebrini said. “They’ve been outstanding our penalty kill, our goalies have just been unreal, especially in those crucial times when our team needs them the most, they come through.”

Warsofsky was sure to point out that the unsportsmanlike conduct wasn’t a regular thing for Celebrini.

“If it had happened 10-15 times, it’d be one thing,” he said. “He’s an emotional young player, and it’s an emotional game. You’ve seen me get hot. He’s competitive, that’s hard to reel in.”

This was the first unsportsmanlike conduct penalty of Celebrini’s career.

“I think I’ve done a pretty good job, for the most part, to control it,” Celebrini said. “It’s gonna happen once in a while.”

It’s also worth noting, again, that this unsportsmanlike conduct seems debatable, at best.

“I obviously got pretty emotional after I received the extra two because I just didn’t agree with any of it,” Celebrini said. “It is what it is. Just move on.”

No doubt too, to play your best, you’ve got to play with a lot of emotion.

“I want [him] to be emotional. I think that’s part of being competitive and part of being who he is,” Warsofsky said. “He wants to win, he wants to help his teammates, so those things are going to happen.”

There is a line, of course, when competitiveness becomes counterproductive.

Celebrini knows, and he knows his importance to the Sharks: “There’s a good balance when you’re in those situations.”

“He’s very mature for being 19 and being a leader and what he’s done so far in this league,” Warsofsky said. “He’ll learn some areas he can maybe show a little bit less emotion.”

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