Story byStan Szeto-Imagn ImagesMarc DumontWed, March 4, 2026 at 5:45 AM UTC·5 min readThe Montreal Canadiens were in California on Tuesday night, facing Macklin Celebrini and the exciting San Jose Sharks. As expected, the young star made his mark, helping the Sharks emerge with a 7-5 win in a chaotic, goal-filled game. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementLet’s dive into the highlights!Rookie ImpactOliver Kapanen opened the scoring with a shot that took a fortuitous deflection, but as we all know, they don’t ask how, they just ask how many. And for the record, that was his 19th goal of the year, an incredibly impressive production rate, all things considered. I’ve been somewhat critical of his usage as the second-line centre, mostly due to the poor underlying numbers he produces alongside Ivan Demidov and Juraj Slafkovsky. In an ideal world, the second line would feature a centre who can help the team maintain a positive share of the possession, but this is not an ideal world, and no one can deny Kapanen is doing a good job finishing plays. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIn this sequence, not only did he score, but he also quickly made his way through the neutral zone, showing great speed in transition before generating a controlled entry into the offensive zone. The Canadiens tend to struggle in transition, making this a very encouraging play by the 22-year-old Finn. Unfortunately for the Canadiens, their first line let them down shortly afterwards, with all three forwards failing to intercept the puck before Collin Graf scored his 16th goal of the year. Tertiary ScoringThe Canadiens held a slight edge in shots and high-danger scoring chances, a situation that can backfire if they did not manage to find the back of the net and establish another one-goal lead. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementRather than depending on the top six, which is often the case for the Habs, it was the third line that broke the tie, with centre Phillip Danault tipping the point shot to score his fourth goal of the season. The Sharks immediately responded, tying the game at 2-2 when the Habs put together yet another defence-optional shift, a recurring theme this season. We’re Going To Need A Bigger BoatSan Jose took over the game midway through the second, punctuated by Celebrini’s 30th goal of the season, a solid shot that fooled Jakub Dobes a little too easily.