Celebrini helps Sharks rally, top Wild in OT for 4th straight win

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Macklin Celebrini set up the winning goal in overtime with his second assist of the game, and the San Jose Sharks rallied for a 2-1 victory against the Minnesota Wild at Grand Casino Arena on Tuesday.

“Probably in years past we punted this game and just moved on and took the loss,” San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “Whether it’s 2-0 or whatever it was, that’s over. We’re done punting games. We’re done saying we’re competitive. We’re trying to win hockey games.”

On the overtime goal, Celebrini skated down the left wing and fed a streaking Collin Graf, who beat Filip Gustavsson with a backhand at 2:41.

“Just came out there and puck sort of got to [Celebrini] and I just skated to the net with my stick on the ice,” Graf said. “And I knew he’d be able to find me and once I got it, I just tried to make a quick play and it was fortunate to go in.”

Will Smith also scored for the Sharks (8-6-3), who have won four straight and extended their point streak to seven games (6-0-1). Yaroslav Askarov made 28 saves.

San Jose has allowed just one goal in each game during its winning streak.

“It was better in our third (period),” Warsofsky said. “First two, arguably our worst two first periods of the year. But we found a way, and that’s the most important thing. It’s a hard league to win in, so we can’t dwell on it. There’s things we got to get better at. We didn’t have our legs at all.

“[Askarov] was outstanding. Our penalty kill, even though we gave up one (3-for-4), was really good. ‘Asky’ was the reason why we had a chance.”

Matt Boldy scored the lone goal for the Wild (7-7-4), who had won two straight and four of five. Gustavsson made 16 saves.

“I thought we played a hard game,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “I thought we played a pretty good game, but unfortunately we didn’t get two points. We’ll digest it and then we got a few days before we play again.”

Boldy gave the Wild a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 5:02 of the second period, scoring with a snap shot after Mats Zuccarello found him in the right circle.

Minnesota defenseman Daemon Hunt nearly doubled the lead on a breakaway at 17:09, but his attempt was denied by Askarov.

The Wild outshot the Sharks 15-5 in the second period.

“It’s a tough loss,” Wild forward Marcus Foligno said. “We dominated them for most of the game, I thought, and their goalie played pretty good tonight. It was a good game by us. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get enough goals. We were snakebit, some of us, myself included. We’ve got to find ways to get it in, but the majority of the game we liked our game.”

Smith scored a power-play goal to tie it 1-1 at 11:57 of the third period. Tyler Toffoli found Celebrini in the left circle, and he redirected the pass to Smith, who was open at the back door.

“I think we just knew we needed to be better,” Smith said. “Every guy, starting with me and our line, we had to better. Asky keeping us in that, a 1-0 game after 40, after playing like that, was pretty good for us. So, that helped us get it done."

NOTES: Celebrini recorded his 13th career multiassist game. The only active players who had more as a teenager are Connor Bedard (14 games), Connor McDavid (17) and Sidney Crosby (31). … Sharks forward William Eklund had three shots on goal and two hits in 19:15 of ice time in his return after missing four games with a lower-body injury.