After rediscovering their offense in their first game back from the Christmas break, the San Jose Sharks will be out for a bit of revenge when they visit the Anaheim Ducks on Monday.
The Sharks ended a three-game losing streak with a 6-3 road victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday as celebrated 19-year-old Macklin Celebrini had a goal and an assist in a homecoming game.
San Jose scored seven total goals during their three-game skid, but their six-goal game Saturday matched their output from each of their previous two victories. The Sharks have scored six goals in a game four times this month and won them all.
They did lose a six-goal game earlier this season, when the Ducks rallied late for a 7-6 overtime victory in Anaheim in the second game on the schedule for each team.
Celebrini delivered his first points of the season in the high-scoring affair with three assists. He currently leads the Sharks in points (57), goals (20) and assists (37).
In Sunday’s victory at Vancouver, Celebrini pushed his points streak to seven games, delivering five goals and nine assists during the run. His 20 goals in 38 games made him the fastest teenager to the mark since Auston Matthews (36 games) in 2016.
“I think we all wanted this one pretty bad and it’s cool to kind of win here,” the Vancouver native Celebrini said.
Collin Graf extended his goal streak to four games for the Sharks while rookie Igor Chernyshov scored his first career goal and added an assist in his fifth career game. Chernyshov has been playing on Celebrini’s line.
“Big man that can really protect pucks, really got a knack for the dangerous areas of the ice, and that’s why he’s had some success up there,” Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky said of Chernyshov.
The Ducks opened the season at 11-3-1 but have lost that momentum by going 10-12-1 over the past seven weeks. Anaheim is 6-6-1 in December and has allowed 5.3 goals per game in the seven losses.
Against their Southern California rival Los Angeles Kings on Saturday, the Ducks allowed four first-period goals in an eventual 6-1 loss. Mason McTavish scored the lone goal on a power play in a second period in which the Ducks outshot the Kings 12-1.
Anaheim has shown it knows how to turn the page. After allowing seven goals in a Dec. 3 loss to the Utah Mammoth, the Ducks came back with a victory. The same was true after giving up a season-high eight goals to the Dallas Stars just before the break.
“This team has been pretty resilient,” the Ducks’ Alex Killorn said, according to the Orange County Register. “When we have had a bad game, we’ve bounced back with a good one. We just have to build a couple good games in a row.”
Anaheim forward Frank Vatrano departed in the third period Saturday and did not return after he crashed into the boards and sustained an upper-body injury.
The Ducks are just 2-4-0 in games started by Lukas Dostal since the goaltender returned from injury Dec. 13.
–Field Level Media
