Arizona Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith won the Honda NHL Four Line Challenge for the Pacific Division with a 20-point shot from the opposing goal line Saturday in the NHL All-Star Skills Competition.
With a single attempt, Smith split a tiny window located in the center of the net from almost 200 feet away.
The challenge, which proved mighty difficult throughout, yielded many more misses than makes, as players readily missed the small targets from long distances.
The Pacific Division already had the lead when Smith connected from 200 feet. Brent Burns lobbed a three-point shot into the top corner from the red line.
John Tavares would go next in the passing accuracy portion, and after a clean skate around the cones by Justin Faulk, Sidney Crosby stole the show - surprising no one - with a clean streak in the stick-handling portion.
Braden Holtby would close things out, needing just a handful of shots to find the back of the net while shooting from the opposite end of the rink. Meanwhile, Carey Price proved he's a sharpshooter himself, needing just one attempt to score in the far net.
With the winning time, the Metro claim one point for beating the Atlantic - who finished with a time of 1:39.69 - and an extra point for the best overall time. As for the Western Conference matchup, the Central Division reigned supreme over the Pacific with a time of 1:44.03.
We're set for Sunday's 3-on-3 All-Star tournament.
The Atlantic Division won the NHL All-Star Skills Competition on Saturday night. It opted to face the Metropolitan Division in the second semifinal Sunday, after defeating the Pacific Division in the Shootout, the competition's final event.
The Pacific and Central divisions will kick off the 3-on-3 festivities:
Game
Teams
Time
Semifinal 1
Central vs. Pacific
3 p.m. ET
Semifinal 2
Metropolitan vs. Atlantic
4:30 p.m. ET
The winners of each semifinal will battle for All-Star supremacy.
On Saturday, the Atlantic advanced to the final event of the Skills Competition after Shea Weber won the Hardest Shot challenge, giving his division the tiebreaker over the Metro. Here were the results after five events:
Pacific 6 | Atlantic 5* | Metro 5| Central 2
Here's a rundown of each event:
Shootout
Winner: Atlantic Division
Only four of 20 shooters were able to find the back of the net in the shootout as the scoreboard reset for the final event between the Atlantic and Pacific divisions - and one of them was 6 years old.
Brad Marchand, Shea Weber, and Sidney Crosby - as a captain's selection from the Metro, his goal worth two points - scored for the Atlantic, giving the division four points, and Saturday's Skills Competition victory.
Ryker Kesler, Anaheim Ducks center Ryan's son, was the only member of the Pacific Division to beat an Atlantic goalie, going five-hole on Carey Price, who graciously allowed the youngster to score. Other than that, Price and Tuukka Rask were perfect.
Brent Burns had the move of the shootout, dropping the puck through his legs and firing upstairs, but he hit the post behind Rask.
Pacific Shooter
Result (Points)
Atlantic Goalie
Drew Doughty
Stopped
Carey Price
Joe Pavelski
Stopped
Price
Bo Horvat
Stopped
Price
Cam Fowler
Stopped
Price
Ryker Kesler
Goal (1)
Price
Connor McDavid
Stopped
Tuukka Rask
Johnny Gaudreau
Stopped
Rask
Patrick Kane
Stopped
Rask
Brent Burns
Stopped
Rask
Jeff Carter
Stopped
Rask
Hardest Shot
Winner: Shea Weber (102.8 mph)
Guess what? Shea Weber has the hardest shot among All-Stars, for the third year running. He hit 102.8 mph on the gun, besting Patrik Laine's 101.7. By getting the Atlantic two points, the division moved on to the final. The Hardest Shot competition was the tiebreaker, with both the Atlantic and Metro finishing with five points.
Hardly breaking news: Connor McDavid's the fastest All-Star. The Oilers phenom got the Pacific two points in the fastest skater event. The Atlantic won both of its heats to pick up two points, as well.
Chalk another one up for the Metropolitan - this Sidney Crosby guy is good. Crosby stole the show in the accuracy department, going 4-for-5 in an event-best 10.73 seconds. He earned a bonus point for being the fastest to get through four targets. The Pacific won its two heats, earning two points as well.
Pacific: Jeff Carter: 17.66 (1 point) Central: Patrick Kane: 18.95
Four Line Challenge
Winner: Pacific Division (1 point)
With players shooting from the near blue, center, far blue, and far goal line, Burns stole the show for the Pacific in the new Four Line Challenge event:
Brent Burns is ridiculous. Just flip it into the upper left corner from center ice, will ya.
To close out the event, Burns' Pacific teammate Mike Smith, the Coyotes' goaltender, fired one from his own goal line, and it took a fortunate bounce and went through the only opening in the net: five-hole.
The Pacific won the event, earning the only point available.
Skills Relay
Winner: Metropolitan Division (2 points)
The Central Division and Pacific Division squared off to open the night, and it was the Central that came out flying. Doughty, representing the hometown Los Angeles Kings, struggled in the passing department.
Central time: 1:44.03 (1 point) Pacific time: 2:03.12
The Metropolitan bested the Atlantic in the East showdown, thanks to a dominant performance by Crosby (of course), and put up the top time in the event. Hey, best division in hockey.
Eventually, the NHL and International Ice Hockey Federation are going to run out of time.
Commissioner Gary Bettman addressed the issue of NHL involvement at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang on Saturday at All-Star weekend in L.A., and his comments - along with his deputy Bill Daly's - didn't sound promising.
"I think there's concern from teams about the ongoing disruption in the season," Bettman said, writes Yahoo Sports' Greg Wyshynski. "The schedule. A whole host of other things. I've never said that just raising the money was the issue."
Daly's comments were even more pessimistic in tone.
"If the status quo remains, I don't expect us to be in the Olympics," he said. "As of right now, there's not a will (to go).
The issue was brought up very briefly with the Board of Governors, largely due to the fact nothing's changed.
"Quite frankly, we don't see what the benefit is from a league standpoint to Olympic participation," Daly added.
Should the league not attend next year's games, that means an All-Star Game will take place. The NHL will look at a destination if and when it's decided it won't be involved in South Korea.
It didn't come easy for Justin Bieber, who was mugged and hit with the 'ol can opener, at the NHL All-Star celebrity shootout Saturday at Staples Center.
Until it did.
After multiple breakaway opportunities were thwarted, and a few other chances were denied, Connor McDavid sauced the puck ahead to Bieber for one final chance at an empty net. And you better believe he hit the target.
Cuba Gooding Jr. trolling Bieber. "25 shots later he finally scored." 😂 -MC
Pop icon Justin Bieber laced them up on Saturday for the All-Star Celebrity Shootout. As fate would have it, the Biebs would be awarded a penalty shot. But as he often does, he left many heartbroken.
Bieber would subsequently be given a second chance at a penalty shot later on, but would once again be stopped by former Los Angeles Kings netminder Jamie Storr.
The NHL will not be putting advertisements on jerseys anytime soon.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman held a state-of-the-league press conference on Saturday afternoon - ahead of the All-Star Skills Competition - where he noted, barring something unforeseen, ads on jerseys would not happen.
"It would take an unusual circumstance for us to even think about it," Bettman said, according to CSN Chicago's Tracey Myers.
That "unusual circumstance" sounds like it could be money and a lot of it.
#NHL commish Gary Bettman on sweater ads: It would take "an amount of money that I'm having trouble even comprehending" to even consider.
When Bettman was asked about the NBA and its plan to introduce ads to jerseys starting in the 2017-18 season, he insisted that the NHL does not plan to follow in its path.
The league experimented with ads on jerseys during the World Cup of Hockey, but, according to Bettman, the difference there is that NHL jerseys are more sacred.
Bettman suggested LeBrun caught Karmanos in a candid moment, and that his interest in potentially unloading the franchise was discussed "whimsically," according to TSN's Frank Seravalli.
He said that Karmanos' stance hasn't changed, and that he remains committed to having hockey thrive in Raleigh.
Bettman also noted that there's no formal sale process.
With the expansion Vegas Golden Knights set to begin play in the NHL later this year, in the 2017-18 season, expect the league's annual midseason showcase to head to the desert shortly thereafter.
Bettman hints #NHL has an agreement with @GoldenKnights to host All-Star Game in Vegas in the "earlier days of the franchise." Maybe in 2018
