Igor Chernyshov scored his first NHL goal, Macklin Celebrini had a goal and an assist and the visiting San Jose Sharks finally beat Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko in a 6-3 victory Saturday night.
Chernyshov and William Eklund had a goal and an assist. Ryan Reaves, John Klingberg and Collin Graf scored for San Jose, which ended a three-game skid.
Celebrini’s exit extended the 19-year-old from North Vancouver’s point streak to seven straight games (five goals, nine assists). Goaltender Yaroslav Askarov stopped 24 shots.
Linus Karlsson, Marco Rossi and Drew O’Connor scored for the Canucks, who lost at home to the Sharks for the first time since 2019. Conor Garland and Filip Hronek had two assists each.
Forward Elias Pettersson returned to the lineup and appeared in his 500th career game. Demko made 31 saves, but lost to San Jose for the first time in 14 career decisions.
In the first period, Demko made a sprawling save while on his back. The puck stopped inches from the goal line, and Reaves burst in head first and poked it in at 6:11.
The visitors’ good start continued when Celebrini won a faceoff that went to Klingberg. The defenseman then scored a low goal off Demko’s glove side to double the advantage just 1:44 after Reaves’ tally.
Vancouver used its special teams to get back into the game after the Sharks’ Vincent Iorio went out for a cross-check at 8:31. Karlsson took a precise pass from Conor Garland at 10:04.
In the second, Eklund collected a piece of the puck and sent it lightly into the air into the low slot. Facing Demko, Rossi accidentally cut the puck and sent it over his goalie. The own goal went to Eklund, his ninth.
Rossi cut the score to 3-2 just 36 seconds into the third period on a shot that Askarov took with his blocker, but the puck bounced back to close the game.
On a power play, Chernyshov restored the two-goal lead by hitting the net for the first time at 4:47, but O’Connor scored a shorthanded goal at 10:43 to make it 4-3.
Celebrini put the victory to bed by scoring his 20th goal on a one-timer with 3:40 remaining. Graff then scored into the empty net at 3:05.
–Field level media
