Macklin Celebrini, Sharks cool off Canadiens

Macklin Celebrini had two goals and an assist as the San Jose Sharks held on for a 4-2 victory against the host Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.

Mario Ferraro scored, Colin Graf had a goal and two assists, and John Klingberg had two assists for the Sharks, who have won two straight. Alex Nedeljkovic made 25 saves for his third win in four starts.

Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki scored, and Noah Dobson had two assists for the Canadiens, who had won three straight games. Jakub Dobes made 17 saves.

Sharks forward Igor Chernyshov exited the game after the first shift of the first period with an apparent upper-body injury. He did not return.

Caufield put Montreal ahead 1-0 at 7:21 of the opening period. Sharks forward Kiefer Sherwood gave up the puck at the other end of the ice, and Juraj Slafkovsky set up Caufield with a cross-ice pass heading into the offensive zone.

Celebrini tied it 1-1 at 13:12 when Graf set him up with a no-look pass along the boards. Celebrini scored on a snap shot for his sixth goal in nine games after the Olympic break.

Celebrini appeared to score again at 1:07 of the second period, but the goal was successfully challenged for being offside.

Ferraro put San Jose ahead 2-1 at 11:56 with a snap shot through traffic. It was the veteran defenseman's fifth goal of the season.

Graf made it 3-1 at 16:20 when he got a piece of Celebrini's snapshot. Suzuki closed the deficit to 3-2 on his score with 2:22 left in the second period.

Celebrini scored into an empty net with 2:04 remaining in regulation for the 4-2 final.