Celebrini shines as Sharks beat Rangers, enter important part of schedule

SAN JOSE – If the San Jose Sharks have designs on making the playoffs for the first time since 2019, they’ll need to take care of business against the teams that have pretty much raised the white flag on their respective seasons.

Fortunately for the Sharks, they happen to play quite a few games against those kinds of teams between now and the middle of April.

Friday’s game was against the New York Rangers, who have put up the for-sale sign on some of their veteran players, and had won just one of their last eight before their game at SAP Center.

With that backdrop, the Sharks did what they had to do, getting two first period goals from Macklin Celebrini and a solid performance from goalie Alex Nedeljkovic in a 3-1 win over the Rangers before a sellout crowd of 17,435 at SAP Center.

Celebrini’s goals came at the 1:09 and 7:37 marks of the first period, with his second giving the Sharks a 3-0 lead. His first goal, off a pass from Tyler Toffoli, came on the power play and snapped a mini two-game scoreless drought.

Pavol Regenda also scored a power play goal in the first period as the Sharks improved to 9-4-0 since the Christmas break.

Celebrini, Will Smith and Collin Graf combined for six points as the Sharks swept their season series with the Rangers.

Celebrini had three goals and two assists, and Smith had two goals and two assists in the Sharks’ 6-5 overtime win over the Rangers in New York on Oct. 23, San Jose’s first victory of the season.

Nedeljkovic made 22 saves through the first two periods, finished with 28, and has now won five straight games for the first time since his NHL debut in Jan. 2017. He’s played in 202 NHL games.

Before Friday, Nedeljkovic was 4-0-0 with a .922 save percentage in his last four appearances. His last start came on Monday when he stopped 35 shots, and fought Sergei Bobrovsky, in the Sharks’ 4-1 win over the Florida Panthers.

The Sharks’ next home is on Feb. 26 against the Flames, as they finish their pre-Olympic schedule with a five-game road trip with stops in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Chicago and Colorado.

Of that group, only the Avalanche, the NHL’s first place team, and the Oilers, the Pacific Division’s second place team, are realistically expected to make the playoffs.

After the break, the Sharks play 26 games in just over seven weeks. Of those games, only 11 are against teams that entered Friday in a playoff spot. They play three more games against the St. Louis Blues after the break, two more against the Blackhawks and Winnipeg Jets and one more against the Flames and Canucks.

Via points percentage, it’s the easiest remaining strength of schedule of any NHL team.

Whether that helps the Sharks make the playoffs for the first time in seven years remains to be seen. San Jose entered Friday just outside of a playoff spot and with 53 points, tied with the Seattle Kraken, who held the second wild card spot in the Western Conference.

The Sharks and Los Angeles Kings were also two points back of the Anaheim Ducks for third place in the Pacific Division.