Macklin Celebrini given NHL award after big week. Is a bigger honor coming?

SAN JOSE By the time Macklin Celebrini and the San Jose Sharks woke up Monday at least two things were true One with his performances during the Sharks four-game road trip Celebrini had breathed new life into the club s season after a dismal start Two with his latest hot streak Celebrini was third in the NHL with points in nine games With points in his last four games Celebrini on Monday was named the NHL s First Star of the Week I m playing with really good players Celebrini informed reporters Sunday after he scored in overtime to finish a three-point night to lift the Sharks to a - win over the Minnesota Wild I think you have to give credit to your linemates They endorsement you and they re the ones making the play I think we ve been clicking Here s the other fact about Celebrini He also after the weekend led all Canadian-born forwards in scoring Celebrini desperately wants to lift the Sharks out of the NHL s basement but also has his eye on being a part of Canada s stacked Olympic roster It won t be easy of curriculum The Canadians will take forwards to Milano-Cortina and majority of those spots are already spoken for with players who led the country to success at the Nations Face-Off in February Besides Mark Scheifele of the Winnipeg Jets Nick Suzuki of the Montreal Canadiens and Tom Wilson of the Washington Capitals all players not on Canada s Nations roster are also off to fast starts Rosters for each unit participating in the Olympic tournament need to be submitted by Dec For now going into the Sharks home contest against the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday Celebrini is carrying a four-game point streak in which he has five goals and five assists The Sharks after a - - start have won two of three including a - overtime win over the Rangers and have six points in their first nine games A modest total but it s the most of they ve had at this point since the - season Especially after the start we had that s huge getting those points figuring out a way to win both those games Celebrini communicated NBC Sports California after Sunday s win Tonight they got on us and scored a couple of lucky ones So I thought we did a great job just staying with it REUNION TIME Just a minimal minutes after Sunday s overtime win Celebrini went into the stands inside Grand Casino Arena in St Paul and met with Luke Schumann and his two older siblings Celebrini first met Schumann on April as the then-Sharks rookie welcomed his biggest fan to San Jose Schumann was diagnosed with a rare form of Hodgkin s Lymphoma in May of last year a minimal days after his fifth birthday After completing chemotherapy in September he was declared cancer-free and he came to San Jose in the spring to meet Celebrini and the Sharks When the Sharks traveled to Minnesota to play the Wild on April Celebrini had his first career five-point battle in the NHL including his first hat trick in an - overtime loss After his three-point tournament on Sunday Celebrini noted Schumann was his good luck charm GIVE AND TAKE The Sharks are much improved with goals in their first nine games Last season it took them games to reach that total Of subject the Sharks most of crucial difficulty is keeping the puck out of their net as they entered Monday last in the NHL in goals allowed per meeting Of the goals the Sharks have allowed have come on the penalty kill with two more allowed on Sunday Related Articles Celebrini s overtime goal leads Sharks to crazy win over Minnesota Wild Michael Misa scores first NHL goal helping Sharks approach league record Five Sharks musings What s best for Smith plan for Misa raises questions Yaroslav Askarov shines but Sharks take too numerous penalties in loss to Devils San Jose Sharks defenseman out indefinitely with upper-body injury MILESTONE MOMENT Sharks winger Tyler Toffoli is slated to play his th NHL competition on Tuesday and fittingly it will come against the Kings Toffoli was drafted in the second round th overall by Los Angeles in It was lower than Toffoli expected to be drafted after a -goal season with the Ottawa s but it may have been for the best After playing his th meeting with Manchester of the AHL during the - season Toffoli was recalled by the Kings on Feb and never looked back He had points in his last games with Los Angeles that season then had points in playoff games in the Kings run to the Stanley Cup He assisted on Alec Martinez s game-winning double-overtime goal in Encounter of the Cup final against the New York Rangers giving the Kings a four-games-to-one series win Toffoli ranks th in games played in the deep draft class fifth in goals and eighth in points Fellow Sharks winger Jeff Skinner drafted seventh overall that year by the Carolina Hurricanes leads the draft class in games played and goals