NHL All Star Weekend Wrap

The NHL’s All Star Game took place today and once again the 3 on 3 tournament was a smashing success. It took a year or two to tinker with the game and the Skills Competition formats, but everything that happened this weekend looked good and it wasn’t tiring in the least.

All Star Game

The games themselves are entertaining and if you watch them for what they are (a fun exhibition) then they are incredibly enjoyable. The players clearly enjoy the format and they actual look like they are having fun out there (see Mike Smith).

As for game play, there was a surprising amount of defence played and the goaltenders really looked like they were out there trying to win (save for Connor Hellebuyck who looked like he wanted to get his time in net over with).

The Pacfic Division took home the title after dispatching the Central Division in Round 1 and taking down the Tampa Bay Lightning Atlantic Division in the championship game by the score of 5-2. Calgary’s participants had a very good showing with Johnny Gaudreau getting a goal and 2 assists and 8 SOG, while Mike Smith had an assist and stopped 15 of the 17 shots he faced. While the stats are nice, Smith looked like he had the time of his life. His 360 while attempting to distract P.K. Subban on a breakaway was laugh out loud funny and his 2 attempts to get an empty net goal at the end showed how much fun all these guys were having. And NO ONE had more fun than Boston’s Brad Marchand who completely embraced the role of the villain throughout the weekend.

All in all, it was another successful NHL All Star Weekend.

Results

Game 1:

Pacific Division 5 Central Division 2

Points Leader: McDavid (4)

Game 2:

Atlantic Division 7 Metropolitan 4

Points Leader: Eichel, Kucherov, Karlsson (3)

Championship Game:

Pacific Division 5 Atlantic Division 2

Points Leader: Rakell (3)

by Mark Parkinson