Jordan Kyrou of the St. Louis Blues held off three-time champion Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers to win the fastest skater competition at the NHL All-Star Skills Competition on Friday in Las Vegas.
Kyrou circled the rink in 13.550 seconds to edge Adrian Kempe of the Los Angeles Kings (13.585). Kyrou then had to wait for McDavid, who was last in the field of eight skaters, to take his turn. But the three-time winner of the event was timed in 13.690 seconds and ended up fourth.
“You want to try and give it your all, so I just went out there and just moved my feet as quick as I could,” said Kyrou, who was selected to the All-Star Game for the first time after leading the Blues in goals (17) and points (42) through 40 games.
Atlantic Division rivals Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Jack Campbell of the Toronto Maple Leafs teamed up to win the Save Streak competition, defeating goalie pairings from the Metropolitan, Central and Pacific Divisions. The event was changed to a team competition for the goalies this year after being an individual event from 2018-20.
Vasilevskiy and Campbell combined to save nine consecutive shots in the first round of the shootout-style format, and that streak held up through the next three rounds.
“Vassy gave me some great advice, and then when we got out there, he showed me how to do it,” Campbell said of the 2018-19 Vezina Trophy winner as the NHL’s best goalie. “I appreciated his teamwork.”
Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets hit his final-round targets in 25.634 seconds to defeat fellow defenseman Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators and win the Fountain Face-off, which was held on a floating platform in the middle of the fountain at the Bellagio Hotel.
“This is awesome,” Werenski said. “I have a lot of family and friends that are here right now on this trip watching and just to be here with them, it’s obviously a cool experience. Being at the Bellagio fountains is a once-in-a-lifetime (experience), so that’s a lot of fun.”
Victor Hedman of Tampa Bay won the hardest shot competition. The NHL’s co-scoring leader among defensemen this season was clocked at 103.2 mph on his second slap shot, surpassing defenseman Adam Pelech of the New York Islanders (102.2 mph).
Another defenseman, Alex Pietrangelo of the hometown Vegas Golden Knights, won the prop-filled Breakaway Challenge with a score of 64 from the panel of celebrity judges.
–Field Level Media
