Macklin Celebrini waited until the shootout to put the San Jose Sharks ahead for good.
He came down the left side, cut through the middle and slipped a wrist shot past Juuse Saros' glove, the only goal of the tiebreaker in a 3-2 win at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday night. Ross Colton could not answer for Nashville, and San Jose left with two points after Steven Stamkos had forced overtime with one second left in regulation.
"Great shot," Sharks goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic told NHL.com. "He's been trying that all year in practice, I feel like. It's nice to see him get rewarded. It's a hard move for me (to save). … He put it in a perfect spot."
The path to that shot started with a lead that nearly disappeared. Mason Marchment opened the scoring at 5:30 of the first, finishing a feed from Tyler Toffoli and Alexander Wennberg after Toffoli worked a no-look pass from below the goal line.
Will Smith made it 2-0 at 4:28 of the third, taking a backhand from Michael Kesselring along the right boards and beating Saros from the right circle with Igor Chernyshov also on the assist. Kesselring's helper was his first point since San Jose acquired him from Buffalo on June 17, according to NHL.com.
Ryan O'Reilly cut the deficit to 2-1 on the power play at 9:05, chipping a Jonathan Marchessault rebound under Nedeljkovic's arm with Roman Josi on the play. Then Stamkos, with Saros pulled for an extra attacker, tied it 2-2 from the top of the left faceoff circle with Filip Forsberg, the puck finding him after traffic in front.
According to NHL.com, Stamkos became the first player in league history with two game-tying goals in the final second of regulation. He had done it once before, in a 3-2 overtime loss at Minnesota on Nov. 4, 2025.
Predators coach Andrew Brunette called it Stamkos doing "Stammer things" and said Nashville had felt the tide turning in the last 10 to 12 minutes of the third.
Celebrini did not register a point through 65 minutes. The Hockey-Reference box lists him with three shots on goal in 23:39 and 26 shifts, a heavy workload for a center whose night ended in the shootout.
ESPN's shootout summary and the NHL shootout report match the same order: O'Reilly's backhand hit the crossbar, Ivar Stenberg's wrist shot was stopped by Saros, Nedeljkovic denied Forsberg's backhand, Celebrini scored, and Colton's wrist shot was turned away.
