Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini scored in the shootout to lift the San Jose Sharks to a 6-5 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.
Before last night’s game, neither Sharks rookie had scored in the shootout across four attempts. Coach Ryan Warsofsky had been deploying Celebrini before Smith but changed the order against Toronto.
“Flipped the order, but I played the percentages and the odds. Those two guys, eventually, they’re gonna score. So it was good tonight,” Warsofsky said.
Smith made a beautiful forehand-to-backhand move but threw a little Detroit Red Wings’ shootout legend Pavel Datsyuk into it. Smith admitted to ‘waving the magic wand’ just before making his move.
“It was a little Datsyuk. I always saw him doing that, so I thought, might as well,” Smith told SHD. “I usually have a plan before the game, just in case. Besides that, you have to react to the goalie.”
Smith is a fan of Patrick Kane, which helped him set up his gear when he became a Bauer Hockey NHLer.
When SHD asked Smith which Kane shootout goal was his favorite growing up, the iconic one against Minnesota was mentioned, but Smith liked a move against Jimmy Howard of the Red Wings.
Macklin Celebrini explains his shootout goal
Celebrini has a different plan than Smith. In each of his shootout attempts this season, he’s used a heavy fake shot.
Like Smith, the San Jose Sharks rookie said he usually has a plan going into the game.
“It’s kind of a little bit of both. You know what you want to do, but you also gotta read the goalie,” Celebrini told SHD. “I haven’t been doing that very well recently, so it was nice to get one.”
Celebrini and Smith were the only two shooters for the Sharks. Both rookies were thrilled to have defeated some of the NHL’s best players in Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and Mitch Marner.
“That was really cool. I mean, those are three of the best players in the world, so it’s cool,” Celebrini said.
“Those are the guys we watched growing up. Beating them, that was pretty cool,” Smith said. “I didn’t really think about it like that too much.”
An eight-game homestand for the San Jose Sharks wraps up on Saturday with the New York Rangers in town.
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