SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Macklin Celebrini scored a jaw-dropping goal and added an empty-netter and two assists to become the fastest San Jose player to reach 50 points in a season as the Sharks beat the Calgary Flames 6-3 on Tuesday night.
Celebrini assisted on two goals in the first period and then took over the game in the third. First he took a pass from Collin Graf, spun without breaking stride and beat Dustin Wolf for his 17th goal of the season to make it 4-2.
The empty-netter put it away, giving the 19-year-old Celebrini 51 points in San Jose’s 34th game of the season. That’s three games faster than any other Sharks player reached the 50-point mark, with Erik Karlsson, Joe Thornton and Owen Nolan all doing it in 37 games. The only teenagers to reach 50 points earlier in an NHL season were Sidney Crosby and Wayne Gretzky.
Barclay Goodrow had two goals, John Klingberg also scored for San Jose, and Tyler Toffoli got his 300th career goal.
Yaroslav Askarov made 27 saves for the Sharks, who were coming off back-to-back overtime wins at Toronto and Pittsburgh to end their road trip.
Blake Coleman, Ryan Lomberg and Nazem Kadri scored for the Flames, who had won four of five. Wolf made 20 saves.
The Sharks started fast, scoring twice in the first six minutes with Celebrini setting up Klingberg for his fourth goal in the last three games and Goodrow scoring his first.
The Flames tied it by scoring twice in just over three minutes before Goodrow scored his second of the game in the closing seconds of the period when he knocked a loose puck on the goal line into an open net.
The Sharks preserved the lead by killing two penalties in the second period as Calgary’s league-worst power play generated only one shot on goal in four minutes with the man advantage.
Up next
Flames: Host the Seattle Kraken on Thursday.
Sharks: Host the Dallas Stars on Thursday.
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