Lightning Round: The Bolts won two events at the All-Star Skills competition

The NHL All-Star Weekend kicked off yesterday in Las Vegas with a skills competition. The Tampa Bay Lightning were represented by three players: Victor Hedman, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Steven Stamkos, and take home two firsts and one second place on Friday night.

In his fourth straight appearance at the All-Star Weekend, Victor Hedman won the Hardest Shot. Both of his shots could have landed him this award last night: Hedman’s first shot was clocked at 102.7 mph, while his second shot was even harder, hitting 103.2 mph. The New York Islanders’ Adam Pelech finished second in this competition; his shot was registered at 102.2 mph. The Washington Capitals’ Tom Wilson and the San Jose Sharks’ Timo Meier ended up as third and fourth respectively.

Andrei Vasilevskiy teamed up with Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Jack Campbell to win the Save Streak competition for the Atlantic Division. The two goaltenders combined to make nine consecutive saves, facing shooters from the Metropolitan Division. Vasilevskiy stopped seven of the eight shots that night. Chris Kreider was the only shooter who could beat Vasilevskiy, as Kreider used Nikita Kucherov’s “no shot“ move during his attempt.

Steven Stamkos finished second in the new NHL 21 in ‘22 event, which required players to shoot at the deck of 52 oversized cards in attempts reach 21 in some kind of hockey blackjack. The Dallas Stars Joe Pavelski edged Stamkos in three rounds.

The NHL All-Star Weekend will continue tonight with an All-Star Game.

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Trevor Zegras stole the show at the the breakaway challenge, dressing as Peter LaFleur from “Dodgeball” and scoring a goal while blindfolded and incoming dodgeballs. He, however, lost the competition to Alex Pietrangelo, who missed during his attempt.

Kirill Kaprizov paid tribute to Alex Ovechkin, who couldn’t participate in the event due to a positive COVID-19 test, wearing his jersey and doing “stick on fire” celebration.

Jordan Kyrou won the Fastest Skater event, completing his round 13.550 seconds. He beat Connor McDavid, Dylan Larkin and Chris Kreider in this event.

Sebastian Aho won the Accuracy Shooting at the 2022 NHL All-Star Skills, hitting the four targets in 10.937 seconds. The Pittsburgh Penguins’ Jake Guentzel was his closest opponent, completing his event in 12.017 seconds.

Zach Werenski won the NHL Fountain Face-Off event held at Fountains of Bellagio, beating Roman Josi in the final round.

The NHL plans to hold the World Cup of Hockey before 2026 with the possibility that the event could be played as soon as in February 2024.

The NHL also announced the schedule for some special games for next season. The next All-Star Weekend will be hosted by the Florida Panthers.

According to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, the 2022 NHL Entry Draft could be moved out of Montreal due to COVID-19 restrictions in Quebec.

The NHL Global Series will return next season with games in Finland, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Germany