Celebrini has two goals, assist as San Jose Sharks top Montreal Canadiens 4-2

By Canadian Press on March 14, 2026.

MONTREAL — Macklin Celebrini scored twice and added an assist as the San Jose Sharks held on for a 4-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.

Collin Graf had a goal and two assists while Mario Ferraro also scored for San Jose (32-26-6), which ended Montreal’s three-game winning streak.

John Klingberg provided two assists and Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 25 shots.

Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki replied for Montreal (36-19-10), while Noah Dobson pitched in with two assists and Jakub Dobes made 17 saves.

The Canadiens held third place in the Atlantic, four points behind the division-leading Buffalo Sabres with two games in hand, heading into Saturday’s games.

The Sharks were one point shy of the Los Angeles Kings for the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot, with two fewer games played.

Caufield opened the scoring at 7:21 in the first period, beating Nedeljkovic cleanly with a wrist shot off the rush for his 38th to set a new career-high.

Celebrini equalized with his 34th when he picked the top left corner from the slot at 13:12. Ferraro later floated a wrist shot from the point and fooled an unsuspecting Dobes before Celebrini’s attempt deflected off Graf’s leg, giving San Jose a 3-1 lead at 16:20 in the second period.

Suzuki ripped a shot glove side past Nedeljkovic with 2:22 remaining in the middle frame to cut into the lead.

Celebrini iced the game, scoring his second into an empty net at 17:56 in the third.

Both teams had goals overturned. Montreal’s Lane Hutson scored early in the first period, but officials ruled they’d whistled the play dead before the puck crossed the goal line. In the second period, Celebrini’s power-play goal was waved off for offside.

TAKEAWAYS

Sharks: Rookie forward Igor Chernyshov left early in the first period after a scary fall. Chernyshov collided with Canadiens defenceman Mike Matheson in the neutral zone before losing his balance twice when he attempted to stand up. The Sharks announced he wouldn’t return but provided no further update.

Canadiens: Veteran winger Brendan Gallagher — the longest-serving Canadien — was a healthy scratch for the first time since suiting up in his first NHL game Jan. 22, 2013, as Caufield returned from a brief cold.

KEY MOMENT

Oliver Kapanen came the closest to tying the game for the Canadiens, firing a shot off the crossbar with nine minutes remaining.

KEY STAT

Caufield scored his 16th goal in 19 games on a Saturday this season, the most by a Canadien since Brian Bellows in 1992-93.

UP NEXT

Sharks: Visit the Ottawa Senators on Sunday.

Canadiens: Host the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 14, 2026.

Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press