The San Jose Sharks ended a 17-game losing streak with a thrilling 6-5 overtime victory over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Thursday, led by a strong performance from Macklin Celebrini. The 19-year-old star recorded a hat trick and two assists, while linemate Will Smith contributed two goals and two assists, including the decisive overtime winner at 1:38.
Celebrini’s hat trick was the second of his NHL career, matching a feat he previously accomplished against the Minnesota Wild last season. He became the 15th teenager in league history to record multiple hat tricks, a milestone last achieved by Patrik Laine in 2016-17. The game also gave Celebrini back-to-back multi-point outings, totaling five goals over the last two games.
An explosive first period gave San Jose an early advantage. Adam Gaudette opened the scoring at 1:58 after a precise feed from Collin Graf and Michael Misa. Celebrini added a power-play goal at 6:17, redirecting a William Eklund one-timer past Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin, who made 19 saves. His second goal of the period, at 19:51, made it 3-1 in favor of San Jose, with Eklund and Smith assisting on the play.
The Rangers mounted a comeback in the second, with Mika Zibanejad scoring on a power-play one-timer at 4:04 and Juuso Parssinen tying it 3-3 at 6:47. Taylor Raddysh gave New York a 4-3 lead with a short-handed goal at 12:10. Celebrini then tied the game 4-4 with 5.8 seconds left in the period, setting the stage for a dramatic third frame.
In the third period, Smith scored at 6:31, moments after a 1:54 five-on-three power play expired, giving the Sharks a 5-4 lead. Raddysh completed his second career hat trick at 11:50, but Celebrini assisted Smith’s overtime goal to seal the historic win. William Eklund recorded three assists, while Dmitry Orlov added two more for San Jose. Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 22 shots in goal.
San Jose has improved to 1-4-2 and avoided becoming the first team in NHL history to start three consecutive seasons with at least seven straight losses. The Sharks will now turn their attention to the New Jersey Devils, who are on a six-game winning streak.
