The San Jose Sharks finally broke the chains of a 17-game losing streak. They registered their first win of the 2025 season, a 6-5 overtime thriller over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night, thanks to Macklin Celebrini carrying the day. The 19-year-old forward hit a home run with his second career hat trick and added two assists, becoming the 15th teenage player in NHL history to rack up multiple hat tricks.
Celebrini opened the scoring at 6:17 of the first period, redirecting a William Eklund one-timer past Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin, who finished with 19 saves. He added two more goals in the second period, including a dramatic game-tying strike with 5.8 seconds left, setting up the Sharks for a late surge. Celebrini also assisted on Will Smith’s decisive overtime goal at 1:38, completing a five-point game and giving San Jose the win.
Smith was equally brilliant, contributing two goals and two assists, including the overtime winner, while linemate William Eklund recorded three assists. Veteran defenseman Dmitry Orlov added two assists, and goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 22 shots to secure the win. The combined efforts of Celebrini, Smith, and 2025 No. 2 pick Michael Misa helped the Sharks tally 10 points from players aged 20 or younger, a feat last achieved by Toronto on January 8, 1986.
San Jose’s young stars led a team effort that overcame the Rangers’ late comeback, which included two goals from Taylor Raddysh, his second career hat trick, while Mika Zibanejad and Juuso Parssinen also scored.
New York, who were seeking their first home win of the season, have now lost five consecutive games at Madison Square Garden to start the year, their worst start since 1943-44. The Rangers also suffered an injury blow as Matt Rempe left with an upper-body injury due to an altercation with Ryan Reaves.
The Sharks, now 1-4-2, avoided starting the season with seven straight losses for the third consecutive year, as they continue a multi-year rebuilding process. Under second-year coach Ryan Warsofsky, they will take on the New Jersey Devils in their next game on Friday.
