Gino Hard flagged an awkward moment for Macklin Celebrini during the San Jose Sharks' game at Los Angeles on Wednesday night.
It came in a 5-1 loss, and the Sharks captain-in-waiting type of attention was not what this team needed on a night that already got away from them.
Hard summed it up in a post on X, saying Celebrini tripped and fell over while arguing with a ref.
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We can't see what led to it from the post, and the sheet doesn't tell us which call set him off. What we know is that the center was frustrated enough to be in the official's ear, and the ice got the better of him.
Celebrini did have a real night on the scoresheet. He scored San Jose's only goal, on the power play, and put four shots on net in 16:31 of ice time.
He also took two penalty minutes and finished a -1.
That's the part that makes the argument sting a little more. When your best player is the one losing his footing in a dispute, the game has already slipped out of reach.
Why Celebrini's season has Sharks fans on edge
The start has been productive but not comfortable. Celebrini sits at 16 points through 14 games, with 5 goals and 11 assists, which is a strong pace for any forward.
But the rating tells a different story. He's a -5, and that's the kind of number that shows how hard it's been for San Jose to win the games he plays in.
His special teams work has been steady. Two power-play goals and six power-play assists show he's driving the man advantage, even when the five-on-five results haven't followed.
Related to the roster questions in San Jose, the team has been tied to a bigger move on the back end. Here's what Pierre LeBrun heard about Simon Edvinsson earlier this week, and a loss like this one only adds to the pressure on the front office.
Celebrini is 20, was the first overall pick in 2024, and already has 194 career points in 166 games. A slip on the ice won't define him, and nobody will remember it in a month if the Sharks start stacking wins.
But frustration with officials tends to travel with a losing team. San Jose gets its next chance to answer, and the temperature around this group will say plenty about how long that fall lingers.
Should Macklin Celebrini be fighting the refs when the Sharks are losing like this?
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