The San Jose Sharks get their first victory of the 2025-26 season in an overtime thriller at Madison Square Garden by a score of 6-5 over the New York Rangers.
Team Teal got off to a great start to this one, scoring the first goal about two minutes into the opening period via Adam Gaudette for his third goal of the season, assisted by Collin Graf and Michael Misa. All three of Gaudette, Graf, and Misa combined for a goal for the second consecutive game and for the 100th point of Gaudette’s NHL career. Moments later, Nick Leddy headed for the dressing room after he was hit by Will Cuylle and did not return due to an upper-body injury, followed by a solid scrap between Ryan Reaves and Matt Rempe. The Sharks then extended their lead to two on Macklin Celebrini’s third goal of the season, which bounced off a few others before finding the back of the net. Assists on this second Sharks goal went to William Eklund and Dmitry Orlov. Later in the first period, the Rangers scored via Taylor Raddysh to get themselves on the board and cut the Sharks’ lead back to one. With just over eight seconds left in the opening period, Macklin Celebrini scored his second goal of the game and fourth goal of the season to restore the Sharks’ two-goal lead, assisted by Will Smith and William Eklund.
The Rangers mounted a comeback in the second period, tying the game at three on goals from Mika Zibanejad and Juuso Parssinen. Later in the second period, a shorthanded goal by Taylor Raddysh for his second goal of the game gave the Broadway Blueshirts their first lead of the night. It seemed like all hope was lost at that point for San Jose, but with roughly six seconds remaining in the middle frame, Macklin Celebrini scored his third goal of the game for the second hat trick of his NHL career to even things up at four, with assists from Will Smith and Dmitry Orlov. Right after Celebrini completed his second career hat trick, it was great to see Ryan Reaves throw his helmet onto the ice in support of Macklin as well.
Early in the third period, the Sharks regained their lead on Will Smith’s first goal of the season in front of a mostly empty net, with William Eklund collecting his third assist of the night and Macklin Celebrini earning his fourth point of the night on this go-ahead goal. Later in the third period, the Rangers tied the game at five on Taylor Raddysh’s third goal of the game for the second hat trick scored in this contest. This would ultimately force overtime, where the Sharks would finally earn their first victory of the campaign on Will Smith’s second goal of the game and season. Macklin Celebrini capped off his best performance of the season so far with his second assist and fifth point of the night on the OT game-winner.
Alex Nedeljkovic earned his first win as a Shark at Madison Square Garden tonight, recording 22 saves on 27 shots against and an assist on the OT GWG by Will Smith. In addition, Timothy Liljegren was activated from the injured reserve, Luca Cagnoni was sent back down to the Barracuda, and Sam Dickinson was a healthy scratch.
This was one hell of a game between the Sharks and Rangers, and it was even better that the Sharks came through to win their first game of the season. It only took them seven games to accomplish this very important feat compared to nine games last season and 11 games two seasons ago, resulting in this season already being more successful for the Sharks than the past two seasons. Leading the way for Team Teal tonight were Macklin Celebrini with a hat trick and five total points, Will Smith with two goals, and William Eklund with three assists, all of which were simply incredible. San Jose is back in action tomorrow in Newark against the New Jersey Devils at 4 pm PT.
Sources: NBC Sports California, NHL App
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