The San Jose Sharks got their season underway on Thursday night against the St. Louis Blues. The night marked the NHL debuts of two of their top prospects, Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith. Over the course of the night, the Sharks looked like a much-improved team than their counterparts from the 2023-24 season until they faltered in the third period and ultimately walked away with a 5-4 loss.
Debut Goals
With a significant number of players making either their NHL debut or debut with the Sharks, it’s no surprise that a few players scored their first goal as a member of the organization on opening night. The aforementioned Celebrini opened the scoring getting his first career goal just over seven minutes into the first period. He attempted a spinning pass to William Eklund, but instead, the puck got deflected by a defender past Joel Hofer and into the net.
About ten minutes later, Celebrini would pick up his first career assist when he found Tyler Toffoli who put it away, scoring in his debut with the organization as well. In the second period, Barclay Goodrow, who was making a return to the Sharks, also scored the first goal of his second stint with the organization on a short-handed marker that extended the Sharks’ lead to 4-1.
Defense Bounces Back, Then Falters
The Sharks surrendered 22 shots to the Blues in the first period, however, goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood stood on his head to keep them in the game. In the second period though, they were much better at suppressing shots and preventing St. Louis from challenging their netminder. Last season, if they had an opening period similar to the first period in this game, things would typically snowball and their goaltender would get hung out to dry. Last night, they used the energy of the SAP Center to their advantage and had a strong defensive second period allowing Blackwood to get a little bit of a break.
Related: Sharks Take Unique Approach to Opening Night Roster
The third period was a different story though, as the Blues powered themselves back into the game with goals by Radek Faksa and Ryan Suter, both of which were debuting for their new organization. In less than seven minutes, the Sharks’ lead went from 4-1 to 4-3. Eventually, they’d allow an equalizer with less than a minute remaining, sending the game to overtime where the Blues would win 5-4. Considering this is a very young team, there are bound to be growing pains such as these but it still doesn’t make it any less stressful for their fan base.
Special Teams Start Hot
In the second period, Fabian Zetterlund took advantage of the Sharks’ first powerplay to get his first goal of the season. The Sharks played very well when they had the man advantage during the preseason, as a result, it’s no surprise that has carried over to the regular season. They got a second special teams goal later in the period when Goodrow scored the shorthanded goal I mentioned previously. On top of that, they also killed off the Cody Ceci penalty. They also killed off a crucial penalty in the third period while only leading by a single goal. While the Sharks looked great in five-on-five play early on, they looked even better on both the power play and penalty kill. Of course, the five-on-five play in the third period is certainly concerning and is something they’ll need to address, but for two-thirds of the game, it was decent.
Celebrini Already a Star
There aren’t many things that can make a player a fan favorite before they step on the ice, but one of them is undoubtedly being a first-overall pick in the NHL Draft. There was a lot of hype around Celebrini entering his NHL debut, and he certainly didn’t disappoint. His first career goal didn’t look the prettiest considering it deflected off of a defender, but if the intended pass was completed to Eklund, it would’ve been a highlight reel play.
Celebrini was also solid defensively and continued driving play throughout the night. He looked like a veteran despite it being his NHL debut. Per the Sharks, his goal was also the second-fastest by a first-overall pick in NHL history, behind only Mario Lemieux, and it also marked the first multi-point debut by a first-overall pick since Auston Matthews in 2016.
Full list of faster goals in NHL debuts by No. 1 overall picks in NHL history (since 1963) faster than Macklin Celebrini tonight (7:01):
— San Jose Sharks PR (@SanJoseSharksPR) October 11, 2024
Mario Lemieux, 2:59 on Oct. 11, 1984
Both players scored on their first career shot on goal.
Overall, the Sharks had a decent first outing for the season. Besides the third period, they played well in all situations and looked like a much different team than we saw last season. While it’s too early to draw many conclusions about what to expect this season, they competed with a team that narrowly missed the playoffs last season despite falling apart late in the game. Getting one point in a game that seemed like they’d be getting a certain two is disappointing, but something Sharks fans are all too familiar with.
