The San Jose Sharks hope to have captain Macklin Celebrini back in the lineup when they host Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers in the first 2026-27 meeting between the division rivals on Saturday afternoon.
Celebrini, 20, missed the Sharks’ recent two-game road trip with a lower-body injury. He is considered day-to-day.
The Sharks split an early-season trip against Central Division competition. They were shut out 5-0 by the Dallas Stars and then defeated the St. Louis Blues 3-2 in overtime.
Against St. Louis, San Jose climbed out of a 1-0 hole when Tyler Toffoli tied the game at 11:12 of the second period. Dillon Dube helped the Blues regain a one-goal lead in the third frame, but Collin Graf tied it again to send the game to overtime.
In OT, Sharks rookie forward Ivar Stenberg, selected second overall in the 2026 NHL Draft, set up Darnell Nurse for the game-winning goal. The veteran defenseman beat St. Louis goaltender Joel Hofer at 1:03 of the extra session to complete the comeback.
“It felt amazing,” said Nurse, who was traded from Edmonton to San Jose in July. “It was nice to battle back. It took us a little bit in the first. Our team was resilient and then got to our game. (In) the third period, we started establishing ourselves. It’s fun to win and fun to add into that.”
Nurse said that Stenberg has a great awareness of what’s happening on the ice.
“He sees the whole game,” Nurse said. “I was able to make a nice move there and pull up and just got the puck on the middle of my stick and just shot to the middle of the net.”
The Oilers opened their season with a 6-5 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks but have since won three straight.
In their last game, against the Ducks on Wednesday in Anaheim, the Oilers exited the first period trailing 2-0 but then scored five goals on 11 shots in the second frame. Evan Bouchard scored twice and added an assist, McDavid had a goal and two assists, and Leon Draisaitl had four assists as Edmonton won 5-2.
“After the first (period), we’re like, ‘You know what? What could possibly go more wrong, so just go out there and start working,’ and we did,” Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. “We got a good start, right off the bat, with a big goal, first shift, and just kept on plugging away from there.”
