Celebrini has 3 points, propels Sharks to win against Hurricanes

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Macklin Celebrini had a goal and two assists, and the San Jose Sharks defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 at Lenovo Center on Sunday.

John Klingberg and Alexander Wennberg each had a goal and an assist, and Alex Nedeljkovic made 28 saves for the Sharks (14-13-3), who had lost three of four (1-3-0).

“[Nedeljkovic] was locked in. You could see it from the start,” San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “He made some huge saves. I liked his third period. He was outstanding tonight.

"We had moments where we saw growth playing with the lead. There’s some improvement we need to continue to work on, but it was a step in the right direction.”

Jordan Staal scored for the Hurricanes (17-9-2), who had won three of their past four. Pyotr Kochetkov, who missed the previous eight games with a lower-body injury, made 18 saves in his return.

“(We were) mentally not prepared properly, and [the Sharks] were hungry,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “It was an embarrassing effort for two periods, really. Great third period, as far as doing it right. But we were not sharp.”

Collin Graf gave San Jose a 1-0 lead 33 seconds into the first period. Celebrini wrapped a pass around Carolina defenseman Sean Walker at the top of the circles to Graf, who redirected the puck into an open net at the right post.

“It was a great start, just going to the net with my stick on the ice,” Graf said. “I honestly didn’t see it at first. I just thought I was going to the net, and it hit me right on the tape. From there you get confidence. If you score on the first shift, you feel good.”

Staal’s power-play goal tied it 1-1 at 13:18, a net-front tip of Shayne Gostisbehere’s shot.

“We were kind of hoping for an easy game,” Staal said. “Not really willing to grind it out and give them nothing and play our style. We have a good thing rolling for a bit, then we don’t. Then we do, then we don’t. It’s starting to get a little frustrating.”

Klingberg put the Sharks back ahead 2-1 at 7:54 of the second period. Celebrini circled the net and took a pass from Klingberg before setting up the defenseman for a snap shot from the right hash marks.

“I saw that ‘Mac’ was coming around the net and I didn’t have a chance to shoot it right away,” Klingberg said. “So, you want to give the best player the puck and then open up for a chance to get an even better scoring chance. When I got the puck, I saw that I had a lot of net to shoot on over [Kochetkov’s] shoulder.”

Wennberg scored on the power play to extend it to 3-1 at 15:14. Kochetkov stopped William Eklund’s one-timer from the slot, but Wennberg finished on the rebound in the right circle.

Nedeljkovic was at his best in the third period, when he made 15 saves, including consecutive shots by Andrei Svechnikov and Seth Jarvis in close with Kochetkov pulled for the extra attacker in the final minutes.

“I just felt happy that I put us in a position to win honestly,” Nedeljkovic said. “It’s way more fun winning, whether you give up zero, one or five. “It was a two-goal game going into the third; they were very much in it. I thought we did a good job of just hunkering down, staying with it in our own end in the third and keeping it simple.”

Celebrini scored an empty-net goal with 1:20 remaining in the third period for the 4-1 final.

NOTES: Celebrini, who has 106 points (40 goals, 66 assists) in 100 career games, recorded his 28th multipoint game, tying Steve Yzerman for the seventh most by a teenager at the time of their 100th NHL game, behind Wayne Gretzky (53), Ron Francis (41), Sidney Crosby (40), Dale Hawerchuk (40), Jimmy Carson (30) and Ted Kennedy (29). Celebrini recorded his seventh three-point game of the season, joining Yzerman in 1984-85 and Bryan Trottier in 1975-76 (both with seven) for the most three-point outings by a teenager through their 30th game of a campaign.