Despite being down generational talent, superstar Macklin Celebrini, the San Jose Sharks managed to come out on top over the St. Louis Blues with a 3-2 win in overtime. After last night, the Sharks are now officially 4-9-1 playing without Celebrini. The success came as a drastically different performance from the previous game played without Celebrini: a discombobulated mess that resulted in a 5-0 loss to the Dallas Stars. Most notably was the way Will Smith and Ivar Stenberg stepped up into elevated roles against the Blues.
Will Smith
It is no secret Will Smith greatly benefits from playing on the wing of Celebrini, and who wouldn’t? However, last night was his chance to prove he is a star in his own right. Shifting over to the Celebrini’s slot as the number one center, Smith took on the role well. Center is not a position Smith is unfamiliar with, playing it his whole life up until after he was drafted into the NHL and placed on Celebrini’s wing. Eager to get the opportunity to play in a slot he was once very familiar with, Smith showed why he had played that position his whole life.
The responsibilities of a center are very different from that of a winger. Aside from just winning faceoffs, centers are instrumental to the forward movement of play. Essentially taking on the role of the line’s quarterback, centers push the play forward while ensuring everyone else is in position to start the formation of a set play. This requires immense positional and spatial awareness while still tracking the play. Additionally, centers work hard off the puck to ensure shooting/passing lanes are clear and the slot is open for high-danger chances.
All those things were done exceptionally well by Smith, who slid back into his old role with remarkable ease. Although he was a -2, one of those -1 coming from extremely unfortunate timing of a line change, his play off the puck was phenomenal. Clearly having spent the offseason bulking up and working on his strength, Smith’s physicality was noticeable right off the bat. He was extremely effective knocking opponents off the puck, interrupting passes/plays, and propelling the play forward. Considering his performance, it may not be outlandish to play him in the spot once again.
Ivar Stenberg
With many fans questioning why he didn’t take Celebrini’s spot in the first game without him, Ivar Stenberg got his chance to play on the top powerplay unit. Although the team went 0/3 on powerplays, Stenberg looked comfortable and competent. His impressively dynamic skating frequently led to him being open, finding seams in the tiniest of spaces, and allowing space for puck movement. His effortless ability to find space and be positionally aware, frequently anchoring in front of the net to create a powerful screen, was fully visible throughout the game, especially on the powerplay.
However, one mistake cost him this special teams time. At the tailend of the Sharks’ second powerplay, Stenberg took his first ever NHL penalty. This resulted in 4-on-4 play for a few seconds before an unsuccessful Blues powerplay. Unfortunately for Stenberg, and the rest of the team, he was promptly removed from the top powerplay spot following that lapse. This would ultimately backfire greatly, with a bizarre (and old) powerplay unit of Trouba-Marchment-Sherwood-Toffoli-Wennberg being deployed on the subsequent powerplay. This strange unit, pretty unsurprisingly, quickly got scored on shorthanded.
Perhaps learning his lesson and the value of Stenberg with open ice in front of him, Head Coach, Ryan Warsofsky, sent out the young star to open 3-on-3 overtime. The use of Alexander Wennberg, who has had a mediocre start to the season, to start overtime was puzzling but ultimately worked. Wennberg won the faceoff, allowing the play to develop. However, there would have been no Darnell Nurse overtime winner without Ivar Stenberg. Stenberg, once again incredible with his use of minimal space, was able to shake off his defender and allow Nurse to simply walk in and score the game winner. Nurse himself praised Stenberg’s unbelievable awareness, saying he was trying to yell to get his attention but realized he didn’t have to because Stenberg already knew he was getting off the bench…despite not even looking in his direction. The efforts by Stenberg to start the season cannot be understated, with him being consistently comfortable and elite.
Following the 5-0 loss to Dallas, this win without Celebrini was a refreshing change of pace. While a lot is left to be worked on, especially with defense, the team is heading in the right direction. After last night, maybe Warsofsky will finally learn that all the talent doesn’t just lie in the hands of Macklin Celebrini. There is a wealth of talent on this team, it’s high time they’re used properly. That being said, thankfully it seems the Sharks will not be without Celebrini for too long as he was spotted on the ice this morning and is working towards returning.
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