Macklin Celebrini puts historic exclamation point on Sharks' season

Macklin Celebrini put a historic exclamation point on a turnaround season for the San Jose Sharks.

With the Sharks facing the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night, Celebrini had two assists in the first period and scored at the 1:14 mark of the third, giving him 115 points on the season as he broke the franchise's single-season scoring record set by Joe Thornton in 2006-07.

Celebrini, 19, assisted on goals by Igor Chernyshov and Will Smith, and Collin Graf, Michael Misa and William Eklund also scored as the Sharks earned a season-ending 6-1 win over the Jets at Canada Life Centre.

Goalie Alex Nedeljkovic finished with 25 saves as the Sharks ended the year with 86 points, a 44-point improvement over last season when they had the NHL's worst record at 20-50-12.

On the Sharks' first goal, Celebrini sent a between-the-legs pass along the blue line to Eklund, who fired a shot on net that was stopped by Jets goalie Eric Comrie. Chernyshov then beat Comrie on a second effort, scoring on his own rebound for his ninth goal of the season.

The Sharks (39-35-8) then took a 2-1 lead after Celebrini sent a puck to Chernyshov inside the Jets' blue line. John Klingberg then took control of a loose puck and gave it to Celebrini, who fired it over to an open Smith for his 24th of the season.

"I know (Celebrini) can give me the puck, so I just try to get open for him," Smith said on NBC Sports California during the first intermission. "(Klingberg) made a nice play there, too, jumping up. All around good play."

On his goal, Celebrini took a pass from Klingberg in the slot and fired a shot past Comrie for his 45th goal of the season.

With his goal, Celebrini also moved into sole possession of second place on the Sharks' single-season goal-scoring list. Patrick Marleau scored 44 goals in 2009-2010, and Owen Nolan scored 44 in 1999-2000.

Jonathan Cheechoo holds the Sharks' record for goals in a season with 56 in 2006-07.

Thornton was 27 when he set the mark 19 years ago, playing in all 82 Sharks games that season. Thornton, inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame last year, broke the team record set by Cheechoo in 2005-06 when he had 93 points in 82 games.

Celebrini's 70 assists are the fifth-most in team history. Thornton holds the team record with 92 in 2006-07.

Celebrini came into Thursday as the NHL's fourth-leading scorer with 112 points, as he scored or assisted on 45.7% of the Sharks' 245 goals this season.

That percentage of a team's goals over the course of a season was, at that point, the highest for a teenager in NHL history, eclipsing Wayne Gretzky's mark of 45.5% during the 1979-80 season when he was 19. That year, Gretzky scored or assisted on 137 of the Edmonton Oilers' 301 goals.

Celebrini has steadily produced offense throughout the season. He had 37 points in 26 games in October and November, averaging 1.42 points per game. From the start of December to the start of the Olympic break, Celebrini averaged 1.52 points per game, scoring 44 points in 29 games.

After an emotionally draining performance at the Milan Olympics, where he helped Canada to a silver medal, Celebrini had 31 points in the Sharks' next 26 games, or 1.19 points per game.

Eklund finished a goal and two assists and Klingberg had three assists in what was his 700th career NHL game. Klingberg, a pending unrestricted free agent, was likely playing his last game in a Sharks uniform.

"He's been a really good pro for us," Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. "He's a young man who's played a lot of good hockey in his career in the National Hockey League, and has been through a lot (with) the injuries.

"I think he's had probably an up and down season, and I think that makes it important for him to hit this milestone. It's a hard milestone to hit. There aren't many people who get to 700, let alone one. It's something that we made sure we wanted to get to for him."

Along with Klingberg, Pavol Regenda, Philipp Kurashev and Ty Dellandrea also drew back into Thursday's lineup. The three forwards had been healthy scratched multiple times in recent weeks as the Sharks tried to remain in the mix for a playoff spot.

Coming out of the lineup Thursday were defenseman Vincent Desharnais and forwards Adam Gaudette, Tyler Toffoli, and Alex Wennberg.

Celebrini, Barclay Goodrow, and defensemen Dmitry Orlov and Mario Ferraro all played in their 82nd game of the season.

"It's quite the achievement in this day and age, especially to all the bumps and bruises that you play through," Warsofsky said. "Those guys have done a really good job of playing some heavy minutes for us."

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