Celebrini gets 3 points, Sharks edge Blues

ST. LOUIS -- Macklin Celebrini scored twice and had an assist, and Alexandar Georgiev made 17 saves in his San Jose Sharks debut, a 4-3 win against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Thursday.

Georgiev was traded to the Sharks, along with forward Nikolai Kovalenko, a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft and a second-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, by the Colorado Avalanche on Monday for goalie Mackenzie Blackwood, forward Givani Smith and a fifth-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft.

"I'm pretty happy with the effort," Georgiev said. "I need to track the goals on video but felt like I was in the right places a lot. ... I tried to enjoy it a lot and just keep battling to the end here and go the job done.

"I'm super happy for [Kovalenko]. He's such a skilled player. I'm glad he's getting the opportunity and got the most out of it today, for sure. It's going to be fun playing with him again here."

Kovalenko had three assists for his first points with San Jose, and Jake Walman had a goal and an assist for the Sharks (11-16-5), who ended a three-game losing streak to close out a six-game road trip (3-3-0).

"It was really important (to close the road trip with a win)," Celebrini said. "We didn't play as good as we wanted to the last couple games. I felt like tonight, we did a good job of sticking to our identity."

Jake Neighbours had a goal and an assist, and Brayden Schenn and Jordan Kyrou each scored for the Blues (14-14-2). Jordan Binnington made 27 saves.

The Blues were coming off a four-game road trip through Canada and felt it affected their play for most of the game until they made a third-period push.

"It's a little bit of both (mental and physical)," Schenn said. "It's definitely the time change, right? A couple hours, getting up early, but every team does it in the League. That's no excuse. They're tougher games to play, no doubt about it. But that's at the same time, when you have that, you have to play smart. We'd probably like to have our first two periods back and just manage the game a little bit better."

Tyler Toffoli made it 1-0 at 1:21 of the first period when he tapped in a loose puck in the crease.

Neighbours tied the game 1-1 at 10:26, following a toe-drag around San Jose defenseman Timothy Liljegren with a wrist shot into the top right corner after taking an outlet pass from Ryan Suter.

"I got the puck in the corner, found 'Sutes' and he saw me beat my guy and gave it back to me," Neighbours said. "Just kind of saw the d-man was turned the wrong way, tried to pull it in and just get a shot off."

Celebrini scored twice in the second period.

The first pick in the 2024 NHL Draft made it 2-1 at 5:43 off a 2-on-1, finishing his own shot after a block by Blues defenseman Colton Parayko on his initial attempt.

"That was a lucky bounce," Celebrini said.

Celebrini's power-play goal at 19:53 made it 3-1, a shot from the left circle after the Blues failed to clear the puck multiple times.

"It was a great keep by [Walman], great pass by [Mikael Granlund]," Celebrini said. "I just felt like I could put one on net and see what happens."

Schenn cut it to 3-2 at 5:34 of the third period, finishing off a loose puck to the right of the net, but Walman made it 4-2 at 6:01, scoring into an open net off a 2-on-1 with Kovalenko.

Kyrou cut it to 4-3 at 7:57 off a close-range chance at the left side of the crease.

"We wanted to start on time, we didn't start on time," Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. "We didn't manage the game well enough early on, and even after we score to make it 3-2 and we have all the momentum, we give up another odd-man rush. Very similar to the second goal that they got. We made too may mistakes and had to fight too hard to get back into the game too many times."

NOTES: Celebrini has seven points (three goals, four assists) in three games against St. Louis; he has 12 points (seven goals, five assists) in 17 games against the rest of the League. ... With 19 points (10 goals, nine assists) through 20 games this season, Celebrini became the 11th 18-year-old in NHL history to record as many points through their first 20 career games and just the fourth in the past 30 years, following Sidney Crosby (24 points; nine goals, 15 assists), Patrick Kane (22 points; seven goals, 15 assists), and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (20 points; eight goals, 12 assists). ... The Sharks were outscored 14-4 during their three-game losing streak. ... San Jose defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin played 15:40 in his season debut and fourth NHL game. ... Blues center Robert Thomas had an assist to give him 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in a five-game point streak and 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in 11 games after returning from a fractured right ankle. ... St. Louis forward Pavel Buchnevich had an assist to give him seven points (two goals, five assists) his past seven games and 19 points (four goals, 15 assists) in 17 games against San Jose.