Celebrini, who won a silver medal playing for Team Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics last month, has 13 points (seven goals, six assists) during his streak.
“He’s tough to gap up on,” Canadiens defenseman Kaiden Guhle said. “He’s a really smart player. He’s got speed, hands, shot, good vision, he’s a good player. There’s a reason he was with the (Olympic) team playing with those top players.”
Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki scored, and Noah Dobson had two assists for Montreal (36-19-10), which had won three straight. Jakub Dobes made 17 saves.
“We kind of let them in and do kind of whatever they wanted,” Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson said. “We didn’t make it hard enough on them. They definitely felt comfortable having the puck on their stick.”
San Jose was down a forward for most of the game. Igor Chernyshov exited 28 seconds into the first period after he fell awkwardly following a hit by Montreal defenseman Mike Matheson along the boards.
“It kind of took us out of the game a little bit,” Celebrini said. “It was really scary. He’s back around the team right now, but I hope he’s all right and doesn’t feel anything further.”
Chernyshov was bleeding from the right side of his head. He staggered when he tried to get up from the ice and had to be helped off between the benches.
“I was honestly very surprised to see him down like that,” Matheson said. “I guess he got tangled up and hit his head on the ice. Obviously not something you want to see, and he’s OK.”
Chernyshov was taken to a hospital and did not return to the game, but rejoined the team and is expected to travel for San Jose’s game at the Ottawa Senators on Sunday.
“It’s a scary situation but we kind of knew he was going to be OK,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “Injuries happen and you see guys go down, you’ve got to play for them. And I thought our guys did a really good job. We had 11 forwards for the whole game and guys really stepped up.”
Caufield, who missed Montreal’s 3-2 win at Ottawa on Wednesday with the flu, put the Canadiens up 1-0 at 7:21 of the first period. He took a cross-ice pass from Juraj Slafkovsky in the neutral zone and drove the left side before snapping a shot past Nedeljkovic’s glove from the left face-off dot for his career-high 38th goal.
Celebrini tied it 1-1 at 13:12. Graf rushed up the left side from his own zone before making a backhand pass to Celebrini, who scored on a wrist shot past Dobes stick side from the top of the left circle.
Mario Ferraro gave the Sharks a 2-1 lead at 11:56 of the second period when his wrist shot from the point through traffic sailed over Dobes’ right shoulder.
“He does all the little things for us -- PK, blocks shots, sacrifices himself,” Celebrini said of the defenseman. “He’s one of the most selfless guys and never worries about his stats or what’s going on. He just wants us to win and you see he’s been here for however many years and he’s just excited to be in a playoff spot and building with this group. I’m so happy for him every time he scores.”
