Macklin Celebrini scored a goal and added an assist, leading the San Jose Sharks to a 2-1 victory over the visiting Winnipeg Jets on Friday night.
With this two-point performance, Celebrini took sole lead of the championship with 23 points. Friday was the 19-year-old’s sixth multipoint game of the season.
Will Smith also scored for the Sharks, who improved to 5-1-1 over their last seven games.
Alex Nedeljkovic made 31 saves to earn his first career victory against the Jets (1-2-0).
Josh Morrissey scored the only goal for the Jets, who have lost two straight road games after starting the season 4-0-0 on the road. Winnipeg had its three-game winning streak snapped in a 3-0 loss to the Kings in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 25 shots in the loss.
Smith scored the game-winning goal at 15:39 of the third period, knocking a loose puck into the crease to give the Sharks their first lead of the night.
After a scoreless second period, Celebrini had a great opportunity to give the lead at 6:27 of the third. During a partial break, the Sharks forward attempted to put a five-pointer on Hellebuyck, but failed to get it through his pads.
Barclay Goodrow then had a glorious chance to score on a short-handed breakaway at 7:45, but couldn’t beat Hellebuyck between the pads.
Winnipeg opened the scoring at 12:34 of the first period as Morrissey’s slapshot from the point beat a masked Nedeljkovic goal for his second of the season.
Celebrini answered for San Jose 72 seconds later, outplaying Morrissey and beating Hellebuyck with a backhand from the glove side for his eighth goal in his last 10 games and his team-leading ninth goal of the season.
Friday was the first of three meetings between the Jets and Sharks. Winnipeg swept all three games against San Jose last season, beating the Sharks 14-7.
–Field level media
