Macklin Celebrini makes Olympic history, nears Sharks record as Canada routs France

Macklin Celebrini is only through the preliminary round of the Milan Cortina Games, and he’s already made history while nearing a San Jose Sharks record for most points by a player in any one Winter Olympics.

Celebrini had two goals, including one on a penalty shot, and an assist on Sunday as Canada routed France 10-2 at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena to close out play in Group A with a 3-0-0-0 record.

Celebrini, 19, had four goals and two assists in three preliminary round games, and his six points in this tournament so far are just one shy of the Sharks’ Olympic record of seven, set by Dany Heatley at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Heatley had four goals and three assists in seven games that year to help Canada win the gold medal. Dan Boyle had six points for Canada.

On Sunday, Celebrini was awarded a penalty shot after he was hooked on a breakaway by French defenseman Florian Chakiachvili at the 17:16 mark of the second period. Celebrini made no mistake, beating Julian Junca for what was then his third goal of the Games.

With the goal, Celebrini became the first NHL player to score on a penalty shot in the Olympics.

Per IIHF rules, the Canadians could have sent any of their players out to take the penalty shot, but coach Jon Cooper stuck with Celebrini.

“I had no idea that you could pick a shooter, so I just assumed it was me. That’s why I skated out there,” Celebrini said. “If they sent somebody else to take my place, I would have gotten off the ice.”

Other NHL players who had penalty shot attempts were Russia’s Alexei Yashin in 1998, Milan Hejduk of the Czech Republic in 2006, Canada’s Sidney Crosby and Corey Perry in 2010 and 2014, respectively, and American Patrick Kane in 2014, when he attempted two in the bronze medal game. NHL players did not take part in the 2018 or 2022 Winter Games.

Celebrini also assisted on Connor McDavid’s goal 20 seconds into the third period, and scored a power play goal with 8:13 left in regulation time as Canada took a 10-2 lead.

McDavid added two assists on Sunday and led the tournament with nine points before Sunday’s later games.

Cooper had Celebrini back with McDavid and Tom Wilson for the start of Sunday’s, although Nathan MacKinnon was mixed in with Celebrini and McDavid for a few shifts. Celebrini, McDavid, and Wilson were together for the Canadians’ 5-0 win over Czechia on Thursday, but MacKinnon replaced Wilson for the final two periods of Canada’s 5-1 win over Switzerland on Friday.

Celebrini scored on Thursday and had a goal and an assist on Friday, as Canada clinched first place in Group A and a spot in the quarterfinals.

“We’re getting more comfortable with each other,” Celebrini said of McDavid. “It’s a lot of fun playing with him and (Wilson), working off those guys, making plays and just trying to create offense.”

Slovakia, with Sharks winger Pavol Regenda, clinched first place in Group B and a spot in the quarterfinals with their 5-3 loss to Sweden. Slovakia earned first place because it had a better goal differential than Sweden, which features Sharks center Alexander Wennberg, or Finland.

Switzerland, with Sharks forward Philipp Kurashev, beat Czechia 4-3 in overtime earlier Sunday. The Swiss, who lost Los Angeles Kings forward to a season-ending injury during Friday’s loss to Canada, will likely face France or Italy in the single-elimination qualification playoffs on Tuesday.

The top four teams in the 12-team tournament earn a bye into Wednesday’s quarterfinals. The eight remaining teams play in the qualification playoffs.

The United States (2-0-0-0) beat Denmark 6-3 on Saturday and can clinch a spot in the quarterfinals with anything other than a regulation-time Germany on Sunday afternoon.

TOP SHARKS SCORERS IN ANY ONE OLYMPICS

Player                        Team                Year    Games  Points

Dany Heatley             Canada             2010    7            7

Dan Boyle                  Canada             2010    7            6

Macklin Celebrini       Canada             2026    3            6

Joe Pavelski              U.S.                   2014    6            5

Patrick Marleau         Canada             2010    7             5

Patrick Marleau         Canada             2014    6             4

Niklas Sundstrom      Sweden            2002    4             4