Celebrini scores for 3rd straight game, Sharks edge Panthers

SAN JOSE -- Macklin Celebrini scored his 10th goal of the season, and the San Jose Sharks defeated the Florida Panthers 3-1 for their third straight win at SAP Center on Saturday.

Adam Gaudette and Alexander Wennberg also scored for the Sharks (7-6-3), who have won five of their past six (5-0-1). Will Smith had two assists, and Yaroslav Askarov made 38 saves.

"It's a win in the National Hockey League. It is extremely difficult. They're not all going to be Picassos," Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. "Credit to our group, we worked extremely hard. We grinded it out. There's no perfect game, so we'll take this one."

Smith extended his point streak to four games (six points; two goals, four assists) and Celebrini extended his point and goal streak to three games (six points; three goals, three assists).

Brad Marchand scored for the Panthers (7-7-1), who have alternated wins and losses in their past eight games (4-3-1), and Daniil Tarasov made 20 saves. Marchand has scored five times in a four-game goal streak. He also extended his point streak to seven games (10 points; seven goals, three assists).

"That's frustrating for sure. You've got guys who will look at their opportunities to get the puck to the net that didn't," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. "There's enough on the offensive side of the puck, generated enough to win, but didn't."

Celebrini gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 17:25 of the first period, scoring when Smith found him alone in the slot with a pass from below the goal line.

"They're a great team. Talk about a winning team, and that's it," Celebrini said. "I thought we did a great job. It was a good game. Had a couple of guys step up huge."

Gaudette redirected a point shot from Dmitry Orlov to make it 2-0 at 3:06 of the second period.

"It's a long season. Personally, I think from a team standpoint, we know we still have work to do," Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro said. "I'm trying to keep it cool. Obviously, I'm excited about what I see right now, but I really want to push for a playoff spot."

Marchand cut it to 2-1 28 seconds later, scoring into an open net off the rebound of his own shot that had knocked Askarov's helmet off.

Wennberg added an empty-net goal for the Sharks for the 3-1 final at 19:09 of the third period.

Askarov stopped 32 shots over the last two periods. He has allowed two or fewer goals in each of his past three starts.

"That was awesome," Askarov said. "I was like, geez, especially like after the first goal, oh my God [the crowd was] so loud. The boys love it. The team can feel it."

NOTES: The Sharks earned their first victory against the Panthers since Dec. 1, 2017, snapping a 12-game losing streak to Florida. ... Celebrini (19 years, 148 days) reached the 10-goal mark in his 16th game of the season, becoming the fourth teenager in the past decade to hit a double-digit total in 16 contests or fewer, alongside Elias Pettersson (10 games in 2018-19), Patrik Laine (14 games in 2016-17) and Clayton Keller (15 games in 2017-18). ... With his 10th goal of the season, Marchand matched his career best for fewest games to the mark, established in 2019-20 (14 games).