Celebrini pushes point streak to 7, Sharks defeat Canucks

Celebrini, who is from nearby North Vancouver, has 14 points (five goals, nine assists) during his streak and at least a point in all five games against the Canucks team he grew up cheering.
Igor Chernyshov scored his first NHL goal and had an assist, Collin Graf scored for a fourth straight game, and Yaroslav Askarov made 23 saves to help the Sharks (18-17-3) end a three-game losing streak.
Conor Garland and Filip Hronek each had two assists and Thatcher Demko made 31 saves for the Canucks (15-19-3), who were coming off a 4-1-0 road trip before the Christmas break but have just four wins all season at home (4-11-1).
Ryan Reaves scored his first goal in 24 games at 6:13 of the first period to put the Sharks ahead 1-0, knocking in a loose puck behind Demko as he reached to cover it with his blocker.
John Klingberg made it 2-0 at 7:55 with a point shot through traffic after Celebrini won an offensive zone face-off.
Linus Karlsson made it 2-1 with a backdoor power play tap-in from Garland at 10:04.
William Eklund was credited with the 3-1 goal at 12:38 of the second period. Demko stopped a Celebrini one-timer but the rebound hit Eklund in front before Canucks center Marco Rossi accidently batted it into his own net.
Rossi scored one for his own team 36 seconds into the third period to make it 3-2, firing a loose puck from the slot that went in off Askarov’s blocker.
Vancouver killed off a 5-on-3 for 52 seconds but Chernyshov scored with nine seconds left in the second penalty to make it 4-2 at 4:47. The 20-year-old, playing his fifth NHL game, quickly snapped a puck past Demko after Adam Gaudette spotted him alone atop the crease.
Drew O’Connor scored on a short-handed 2-on-1 wrist shot at 10:43 to make it 4-3, but Celebrini scored his 20th goal of the season on a one-timer from Chernyshov at 16:20 to restore the two-goal lead at 5-3.
Graf scored into an empty net, his fifth goal in four games, at 16:55 for the 6-3 final.




