Game On! All-Star Skills Recap and Game Preview

It is that time of the year again when the NHL’s best take the ice and fan’s questions like what if Crosby played with Ovechkin get put to rest, well if Ovechkin was playing at least. The All-Star game weekend festivities at the SAP Center have been going strong since last night and will conclude with the coup de gráce today, the three on three tournaments with each division putting forth a team. Teams within the same conference will play a 20-minute game with the eventual winners of both games playing each other for the championship. The winning team splits a one million dollar prize.

Tonight’s competition is the 64th All-Star game in league history, but only the fourth game with the current format. The schedule of games is as follows:

Central Division vs. Pacific Division – 8:15 PM EST

Metropolitan Division vs. Atlantic Division  – 9:15 PM EST

TBA vs. TBA – Championship

Each team consists of 11 players ( 9 skaters, 2 goalies)

Rosters

Atlantic Division

• Jack Eichel, BUF
• Nikita Kucherov, TBL
• Auston Matthews, TOR
• David Pastrnak, BOS
• Steven Stamkos, TBL
• John Tavares, TOR
• Jeff Skinner, BUF
• Thomas Chabot, OTT
• Keith Yandle, FLO
• Jimmy Howard, DET
• Andrei Vasilevskiy TBL

Metropolitan Division

• Sebastian Aho, CAR
• Cam Atkinson, CBJ
• Mathew Barzal, NYI
• Sidney Crosby, PIT
• Claude Giroux, PHI
• Kyle Palmieri, NJD
• John Carlson, WAS
• Seth Jones, CBJ
• Kris Letang, PIT
• Braden Holtby, WAS
• Henrik Lundqvist, NYR

Central Division

• Patrick Kane, CHI
• Nathan MacKinnon, COL
• Ryan O’Reilly, STL
• Mikko Rantanen, COL
• Mark Scheifele, WPG
• Blake Wheeler, WPG
• Gabriel Landeskog, COL
• Miro Heiskanen, DAL
• Roman Josi, NSH
• Devan Dubnyk, MIN
• Pekka Rinne, NSH

Pacific Division

• Johnny Gaudreau, CAL
• Clayton Keller, ARZ
• Connor McDavid, EDM
• Joe Pavelski, SJS
• Elias Pettersson, VAN
• Leon Draisaitl, EDM
• Brent Burns, SJS
• Drew Doughty, LAK
• Erik Karlsson, SJS
• Marc-Andre Fleury, VGK
• John Gibson, ANA

All-Star Skills

As per usual with the All-Star game, the Skills competition took place last night with some surprises and easy predictions on who would win each category,

Fastest Skater: Connor McDavid (13.378 seconds)

No surprise here, McDavid wins his 3rd straight at the All-Star game. Nathan MacKinnon sat out the event due to his foot and was replaced by Kendall Coyne, the first female to compete in the event. Coyne posted a time of 14.346 seconds.

Puck Control: Johnny Gaudreau (27.045 seconds)

Gaudreau won his second straight title after winning the inaugural event last year. Patrick Kane started the event with a time of 28.611 seconds which held up until it was “Johnny Hockey’s”  turn.

Save Streak: Henrik Lundqvist (12 consecutive saves)

Lundqvist proved his mettle in this challenge and reminded people that he can still play high-end goalie. Last years champion Marc Andre looked to challenge for the top spot again but had his streak snapped at six saves by Blake Wheeler.

Premier Passer: Leon Draisaitl (1:09.088)

The Oilers are seventh in the Pacific Division but number one in All-Star Skills. Draisaitl won outright by ten seconds while his competition looked to struggle at points of the obstacle course. There were only two other players to beat the 90-second mark other than Draisaitl.

Hardest Shot: John Carlson (102.8 mph)

The absence of last year’s champion Alex Ovechkin calls the results in question but Carlson’s effort this year would have dethroned Ovechkin’s shot from the 2018 event. Carlson was one of only two players to break triple digits. Zdeno Chara’s 108 MPH shot from 2012 still reigns at the heaviest ever in the event.

Shot Accuracy: David Pastrnak (11.309 seconds) 

Pastrnak was lethal in the five target challenge and like Draisaitl won his event by more than a second. Penguins Kris Letang finished second and looked solid for a guy that isn’t paid to score goals.

Facts

Seven players who have appeared in the three previous All-Star Weekends under the 3-on-3 format will again participate this year: Brent Burns, Drew Doughty, Johnny Gaudreau, Braden Holtby, Patrick Kane, Erik Karlsson, and John Tavares.