Macklin Celebrini scored late in the third period in San Jose on Wednesday night, November 11, and the goal made him the fifth-youngest player in NHL history to reach 200 career points. FINAL: Pittsburgh Penguins 3, San Jose Sharks 2 (SO). The Canadian captain of the Sharks got there in his 171st NHL game, at 20 years and 151 days old.
Celebrini Becomes Fifth-Youngest To 200 Points
The company defines the milestone. The Hockey News reported that only Sidney Crosby, Wayne Gretzky, Jimmy Carson and Mario Lemieux reached 200 points younger than Celebrini, and that he is just the 14th player in league history to pass the mark before turning 21. The NHL’s game recap notes that Celebrini, now at 78 goals and 123 assists, became the fifth-fastest active player to 200 points, behind Crosby (142 games), Alex Ovechkin (165), Evgeni Malkin (166) and Kirill Kaprizov (167). By Sharks history, nothing comes close: according to Sharks PR, he is the fastest player who began his career in San Jose to reach 200, beating Logan Couture’s previous mark of 273 games by more than a hundred.
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The 200th point was not a cheap one. With San Jose down 2-0 and Sergei Murashov holding a shutout deep into the third period, Michael Kesselring bumped a pass to Celebrini in the slot at 11:32 and his wrist shot beat Murashov under the glove. “That doesn’t really happen without the guys in this room,” Celebrini said of his 200th career point, “the guys I play with, and all the plays that they make and all the work that they put in.”
Celebrini Drags San Jose Back Before The Shootout
Pittsburgh had built its lead in two pieces. Samuel Girard opened the scoring at 8:57 of the first period, his point one-timer deflecting off Yaroslav Askarov’s right arm, and Ben Kindel made it 2-0 on the power play at 3:28 of the third, finishing over Askarov’s glove from the left post after Erik Karlsson’s one-timer rebounded through Rickard Rakell.
After Celebrini’s milestone goal, he added point 201 four minutes later, finding Mason Marchment at the left post at 15:49 for the tap-in that tied the game 2-2; the goal was Marchment’s 100th in the NHL. “Just kept battling,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “Grinded and found a way to get a point out of that one was probably the biggest thing.” Murashov made 34 saves and Askarov 33, and Kindel scored the only goal of the shootout, skating wide down the left wing before beating Askarov through the five-hole, to give Pittsburgh (7-10-2) the extra point. “Not much, just pick a move and stick with it,” Kindel said. “Five-hole and it went in.” San Jose (8-11-2) has lost six of its past seven.
A Canadian Star On A Historic Pace
Celebrini, the North Vancouver product San Jose took first overall in 2024 and made its captain, is in his third NHL season and already owns a five-year, $94 million extension signed last summer that begins in 2027-28. He leads San Jose with eight goals and 15 assists through 19 games this season, and his career line, 201 points in 171 games, is a pace none of the four men ahead of him on the youngest list would disown: two are the two greatest players ever, one is Crosby, and the fourth, Carson, is the cautionary name on every young-star list.
There was a footnote for the veterans, too: Evgeni Malkin became the first player in NHL history aged 40 or older to record an assist on six consecutive team goals. On a night built for the future of the league, the milestone belonged to the 20-year-old Canadian wearing the C in San Jose, fifth-youngest ever to 200, with the names above him reading like a Hall of Fame roll call.
