Sharks’ Macklin Celebrini scores first career NHL goal; placed on injured reserve with lower-body injury
The Sharks’ Macklin Celebrini’s career got off to a fast start, scoring his first NHL goal in the team’s season opener on Thursday night.
Celebrini, the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft out of Boston University, lit the lamp just 7:01 into the first period. He delivered a backhand off Blues’ defenseman Matthew Kessel’s right skate and by the goaltender Joel Hoffer.
"It was awesome," Celebrini said after the game to reporters on Thursday. "It's everything I thought it would be for my first game. It was an amazing experience, and I'll cherish it for the rest of my life."
The top pick in the draft came barreling into the Blues zone on a Sharks rush and did a spin move near the boards before trying to center a pass to William Eklund.
"I just tried to fake up and then just throw one to the middle and see if he could get a stick on it," Celebrini said. "Just a lucky bounce off the D-man's skate."
Following his goal, Celebrini didn’t realize he received credit for the goal until Eklund told him. That was followed by the crowd chanting “Celebrini! Celebrini!”.
Two days after the 18-year-old’s debut, he was placed on injured reserve and will miss at least the next two games with a lower-body injury. Celebrini had been banged up since training camp and the preseason. Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofksy said the young star is week-to-week with his injury.
"[He's] week to week. That's really all I've got," Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. "I can't put a timeline on it, to be honest with you. I think week to week is right around where we're thinking. We'll just see how it progresses through his rehab here the next couple [of] days."
The nature of the injury is not fully known, but he did leave the Oct. 1 game against the Utah Hockey Club.
"Everyone goes through bumps and bruises throughout training camp," Warsofsky said. "I'd say we kind of realized something was more in-depth after that [first] game. It's a good learning moment for him. Life's unfair at times. Mentally, he's good. He was in here today working. It's the game of hockey, right? There's going to be injuries. Sure, it won't be his last injury, and we've got to continue to move forward."
Celebrini was the sixth-youngest player, at 18 years, 119 days, to score in his NHL debut. He added an assist 10 minutes later to become the youngest player in NHL history to record two points in the first period of his debut, according to Sportradar.
