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Ducks stunned as Macklin Celebrini, Sharks rally with 2 late goals

April 2, 2026

SAN JOSE — Macklin Celebrini tied the score with less than two minutes to play then assisted on Alexander Wennberg’s winning goal with 31 seconds left to complete a four-point game as the San Jose Sharks stunned the Ducks, 4-3, on Wednesday night.

With two goals and two assists, Celebrini now has 40 goals and 105 points this season, moving him past Erik Karlsson (101 points in 2022-23) for the second highest single-season point total in franchise history behind Joe Thornton’s 114-point effort in 2006-07.

The 19-year-old Celebrini also now has 17 games this season with three or more points, second among teenagers in NHL history only to Wayne Gretzky, who had 19 in 1979-80.

Will Smith had a goal and two assists for the Sharks (35-31-7, 77 points), who are one point behind the Kings (with a game in hand) in the race for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference playoffs. Yaroslav Askarov made 28 saves.

Troy Terry scored 4:04 into the third period to give the Ducks a 3-2 lead.

With Askarov pulled for the extra skater, Celebrini tied the score with 1:39 left.

Ryan Poehling and Alex Killorn also scored for the Ducks (41-29-5, 87 points), who have lost three straight games but remain atop the Pacific Division, two points ahead of second-place Edmonton (38-28-9) with seven games left in the regular season. Drew Helleson had a pair of assists and Lukas Dostal made 16 saves and also got his first assist of the season on Poehling’s goal.

The Ducks played without leading goal-scorer Cutter Gauthier, who suffered an upper-body injury during Monday night’s 5-4 loss to Toronto.

Nathan Gaucher made his NHL debut for the Ducks. He was selected 22nd overall by the Ducks in the 2022 draft.

San Jose now has a 2-1 lead in the four-game regular-season series between the teams.

More to come on this story.

McQUEEN SIGNS AMATEUR TRYOUT OFFER

Ducks lottery pick Roger McQueen moved a step closer to flying with the flock on Wednesday after the Providence College freshman signed an amateur tryout offer that will allow him to join the Ducks’ top minor-league affiliate.

McQueen, a skilled 6-foot-6-inch center, will report to the San Diego Gulls imminently now that the Friars were eliminated by Quinnipiac in the NCAA tournament.

“It is exciting to welcome Roger to our organization to play professional hockey after a strong freshman season at Providence,” Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said in a statement. “Roger will gain valuable experience playing additional games in San Diego, which will be an important step in his development.”

McQueen, the 10th overall selection in last June’s draft after his stint with the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings, had 27 points in 36 games with a 55.1% faceoff percentage at Providence. He was one of the first prospects to take advantage of the new CHL-NCAA parameters that allow Canadian junior players to cross over into the U.S. college ranks. Other top picks like Boston College’s James Hagens, who signed an ATO with the Boston Bruins last month, and Gavin McKenna, the Penn State star expected to go No. 1 overall this year, also made that leap.

One Hall of Fame defenseman and Stanley Cup champ described the arrangement as one that lets players develop as both competitors and people, giving them “the best of both worlds.”

“Back in my time, you had to make that decision when you were 15 or 16 years old. If you wanted to play in Canadian hockey, in my case the (OHL) with Peterborough, you had to make that decision at a young age,” said former Ducks star Chris Pronger, who was recruited by top college programs like Maine, Michigan and North Dakota. “Whether you were sure or not about it being the right or wrong decision, you might make a mistake at that young age.”

McQueen was part of one of the more memorable draft moments in recent years, when after the Ducks selected him he was whisked away from Downtown L.A. to Downtown Disney, taking a helicopter ride to “the happiest place on earth” immediately after shaking hands and taking photos as a top-10 pick.

“Everything that went on there was crazy, it was so cool. It was something I’ll never forget, those first 72 hours,” McQueen said.

McQueen slipped in the draft – he had been projected by many to go in the top 5 earlier in his career – due to a back injury that limited him to just 17 games in his draft year. No longer taking long bus rides through rough weather and now having access to state-of-the-art training, McQueen didn’t miss a single game at Providence this season. In addition to traditional strength building and injury prevention, McQueen has integrated yoga and pilates into his regimen.

“I got a misdiagnosis back when I was in my second season with Brandon, around February, near the playoffs. They had said it was just disk issues – they thought there were two bulging disks – so I rehabbed it (accordingly), which didn’t end up doing much,” McQueen said. “Then I figured out later that it was a fracture. I had two really good doctors treating that and fixed that up. Since then, I’ve been doing tons of core work to stabilize those muscles to make sure that can’t happen again.”

Given free-agent addition Mikael Granlund’s age and the recently re-signed Mason McTavish’s inconsistency, McQueen’s development behind top center Leo Carlsson might have gone from luxury to necessity. He plays a rangy, rugged game that has been compared with one of the great Ducks in franchise history.

“I’ve always said Ryan Getzlaf for a player comp, so that’s pretty cool with him being such a veteran and all-time great here,” McQueen said.

UP NEXT

The Ducks return home to host St. Louis on Friday at 7 p.m.

Andrew Knoll contributed to this story.

Orange County Register

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Ducks stunned as Macklin Celebrini, Sharks rally with 2 late goals

McQUEEN SIGNS AMATEUR TRYOUT OFFER

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