Sharks Vs Oilers: Celebrini and McDavid meet again, this time with a playoff chase on the line
In Edmonton on Tuesday night, sharks vs oilers arrives with the kind of tension that doesn’t need hype: two recent Olympic linemates, now opponents, skating into Rogers Place at 9 p. m. ET with postseason position hanging over every shift. Macklin Celebrini’s Sharks come in a point out of a playoff spot, while Connor McDavid’s Oilers are trying to hold their ground with the finish line in sight.
What makes Sharks Vs Oilers feel bigger than one regular-season game?
The immediate hook is personal: Celebrini and McDavid spent the 2026 Winter Olympics on the same line for Team Canada, sharing space, responsibilities, and the quick trust that forms when the stakes are national. Now the relationship is being tested in a different way—directly competing for points in a tight Western Conference race.
Celebrini, 19, framed the moment as both new and energizing for a team learning what meaningful late-season hockey feels like. “This is fun, ” Celebrini said. “This is our first time through it and a lot of us are excited to be in this spot and go through it for the first time. We’re grateful, but want to keep pushing here. ”
That “first time through it” matters. San Jose has not qualified for the playoffs since 2019, and the context around this push is not a polished contender chasing seeding—it’s a young group moving out the other side of a complete rebuild, reshaping its mindset as the season has gone on.
Where do the standings and recent results put pressure on both teams?
The math is simple, and that’s what makes it unforgiving. The Sharks (32-27-6) sit one point behind the Seattle Kraken and Los Angeles Kings for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. They are also five points behind the Oilers (33-26-9) for third in the Pacific Division, with three games in hand on Edmonton.
But the chase comes with a warning label, one Celebrini put plainly: good stretches can be undone by defensive lapses that turn into high-scoring losses. San Jose is 5-3-2 since the Olympic break, yet Celebrini pointed to two recent examples the Sharks want to eliminate from their profile—a 7-4 loss at the Ottawa Senators on Sunday and a 6-3 loss at the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday.
Edmonton, meanwhile, faces its own constraint. The Oilers announced on Tuesday that star forward Leon Draisaitl is expected to miss the rest of the regular season with a lower-body injury. In a tight race, losing a top forward changes not just the lineup card, but the nightly margin for error.
How are Celebrini and McDavid describing their Olympic connection now?
The tone from both players is respectful, almost protective of what they shared in Milan, even as competition takes over. Celebrini described the Olympics as a fast-track to familiarity—less about celebrity and more about the mundane details of reading a teammate’s timing and tendencies.
“It’s super cool, I got to play on his line, and you have to get to know your linemates pretty well, ” Celebrini said. “I got to know him really well over the short stint in Milan and playing with each other and talking with each other, we got pretty close. I think he’s a great person, you don’t see that on TV or watching him play. Everyone knows the kind of player he is, but he’s awesome to be around, fun to talk with and have conversation with. ”
McDavid, for his part, returned the compliment while keeping the focus on habits—what veterans notice first when they’re gauging whether a young player can carry big moments. “He’s a great player and when you get to know him, he’s a great kid and he just does everything right, ” McDavid said. “I really, really enjoyed my time playing with him and getting to know him. ”
Behind the words is a reality of the season: Celebrini is not simply participating in the race—he is driving it. He leads San Jose and is fifth in the NHL with 95 points (35 goals, 60 assists) in 65 games, a workload that places him at the center of every scouting report and every in-game adjustment.
What are the stakes inside the Sharks’ rebuild—and why does this moment test their identity?
For San Jose, the stakes extend beyond one night’s result. The organization has been “coming out the other side of a complete rebuild, ” and the shift Celebrini described is as much psychological as tactical: learning to see close games not as experience, but as opportunities that demand execution.
“I don’t think anyone thought we would be in this spot, ” Celebrini said. “We kind of believed it all year we had the guys in the room to do it, and we just need to keep it going. We’re really close and we’ve played some good hockey over the last little stretch but have to limit those games like Ottawa … and Buffalo …”
That’s where sharks vs oilers becomes a measuring stick: can a young roster protect its progress when the opponent’s leader is one of the most recognizable centers in the sport, and when the points on offer directly reshape the standings around them?
Celebrini also underlined what’s ahead, pointing to the density of important games still to come. “A lot of teams are in the mix, ” he said. “I think a lot of the standings is up for grabs. We play a lot of division opponents coming up here and all of these games are important. They’re all going to be important to win and get points in. ”
What to watch at 9 p. m. ET as Sharks vs Oilers returns to the ice
The scene at Rogers Place on Tuesday night will likely feel split: the immediate spectacle of Celebrini versus McDavid, and the quieter implications of what the next two points mean for two teams trying to arrive at April with something secure.
San Jose enters with momentum that has to be managed, not celebrated—5-3-2 since the Olympic break, and a young star openly naming the kind of defensive nights the Sharks can’t afford. Edmonton enters with urgency sharpened by roster news, with Draisaitl expected to miss the rest of the regular season.
In the opening faceoff, the Olympics will be a memory. By the final horn, the standings will still be tight, the pressure still real, and the lesson—win or lose—will be immediate: sharks vs oilers is no longer about what Celebrini and McDavid were together. It’s about what each can pull from his team now that they’re on opposite sides of the chase.
