San Jose Sharks see Macklin Celebrini shine in a teal shirt against Utah

It didn’t take long for Macklin Celebrini to impress in his first competitive game in a San Jose Sharks uniform on Friday.

Playing for the first time in nearly four months, the 18-year-old Celebrini scored a third-period power-play goal and had five shots on goal in the Sharks’ 3-2 win over Utah Hockey Club to kick off the Rookie Faceoff in El Segundo.

“It felt really good,” Celebrini told reporters about playing again. “Especially getting changed for the game and (skating) in the warm-up. When I put the jersey on, it became a little bit real.”

Forward Ethan Cardwell scored the winning goal on a power play at 16:09 of the third period to give the Sharks a come-from-behind victory at the Toyota Performance Center. The event, featuring seven NHL teams, has begun.

Celebrini’s goal at 5:42 in the third period made it 2-2.

Celebrini started the series by winning a faceoff in the Utah zone, then drifted back to the blue line, picked up the puck, skated along the wall and passed it back to defenseman Luca Cagnoni.

Cagnoni then skated along the blue line and passed the puck back to Celebrini, who faked the ball to the Utah goalie, took a step forward and fired the puck past Utah goalie Anson Thornton.

“Big power play goal,” Sharks forward Will Smith told reporters. “That was the turning point of the game.”

Forward Luke Grainger scored an even-strength goal in the first period and goalie Georgi Romanov saved 18 shots for the Sharks, who ultimately connected on 47 shots against Utah, a team under new ownership after relocating from Arizona to Salt Lake City this offseason.

Peter Repcik and Owen Allard scored equal goals for Utah, with Allard’s goal giving his team a 2-1 lead with 4:39 left in the third period.

All eyes, however, were on Celebrini, who in June became the first player selected No. 1 by the Sharks in the NHL Draft.

The 2024 Hobey Baker Award winner as college hockey’s most outstanding player began the game centering the Sharks’ top line with Kasper Halttunen and childhood friend Carson Wetsch on his wings. Celebrini was also part of the No. 1 power-play unit with Quentin Musty, Collin Graf, Smith and Cagnoni.

Celebrini showed more than once that he can quickly release and used his skating technique during power plays to often get the ball into the offensive zone.

“He’s an unbelievable player,” Cardwell told reporters. “He plays with so much pace, sees the ice well. I’ve had passes come to me that I didn’t think could get through to certain spots and stuff. He really opens up the ice for other players out there.

“You have to keep your head in the game and be ready because he will make passes when you least expect it.”

The game was Celebrini’s first since May 5, when he played an exhibition game with Team Canada against Austria for the IIHF World Championships. Celebrini was originally scheduled to play with Canada at the tournament, which was held in the Czech Republic, but the team brought in more NHL veterans to bolster its roster, and Celebrini and Adam Fantilli were cut.

Celebrini was then asked by the NHL to stop in Secaucus, NJ, for the draft lottery on his way back from Europe. He did, and there he learned, like everyone else, that he would be a Shark.

Now, it’s likely, but not guaranteed, that Celebrini will also be on the Sharks’ top power-play unit when the regular season opens Oct. 10 at home against the St. Louis Blues. But that’s still more than four weeks away. Celebrini said Wednesday that he just wants to “build a nice relationship with my new teammates, and just enjoy a few games in L.A.”