Metro Division Wins All-Star Tournament
Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
For the second straight season, the all-star tournament featured a 3 on 3 game. The games were 20 minutes long and the two semifinal winners faced off in the finals and a chance to win one million dollars.
The first semifinal game featured the Central vs Pacific. The Pacific Division dominated the Central Division 10 to 3. Cam Fowler and Jeff Carter scored in the first 3:39 of the game for the Pacific Division. Jonathan Toews cut the deficit in half for the Central. Six seconds later, Connor McDavid scored. Brett Burns and Drew Doughty scored before the end of the first half of the first game.
In the second half of the first game, P.K. Subban scored 2:14 into the second half of the first game for the Central. Johnny Gaudreau scored 19 seconds later for the Pacific. Joe Pavelski scored for the Pacific. Vladimir Tarasenko scored the last goal for the Central. Ryan Kesler, Bo Horvat, and Johnny Gaudreau scored the final 3 goals for the Pacific.
Corey Crawford and Devan Dubnyk each had 6 saves for the Central. Martin Jones had 7 saves and Mike Smith had 2 saves for the Pacific.
In the second game, the Metropolitan faced the Atlantic All-Stars. The Metro won 10 to 6. Wayne Simmonds scored for the Metro to give them a 1 to 0 lead early. Nikita Kucherov tied the game at 1 for the Atlantic later in the period. Wayne Simmonds scored his second goal of the game later in the period.
Victor Hedman scored for the Atlantic afterwards. Erik Karlsson gave the Atlantic a 3 to 2 lead. John Tavares tied it up at 3 with 1:15 remaining in the first half of the second game. Auston Matthews scored 50 seconds into the second half for the Atlantic Division. In a span of 19 seconds, John Tavares, Seth Jones, and Taylor Hall scored for the Metropolitan.
Later in the period, Nikita Kucherov scored his second goal of the game to cut the deficit to one. Sidney Crosby scored a goal and so did Cam Atkinson twice, in a span of 1:19. Vincent Trocheck scored the final goal for the Atlantic with 1:06 remaining. Alex Ovechkin scored a goal for the Metro with 1 second left.
Braden Holtby had 12 saves and Sergei Bobrovsky had 7 saves for the Metropolitan Division. Carey Price had 3 saves and Tuukka Rask had 8 saves for the Atlantic Division.
In the championship round, the Metro defeated the Pacific 4 to 3. The Pacific won the tournament last season. Wayne Simmonds scored the game-winning goal with 4:58 remaining in the game, and he was also named MVP of the tournament. Simmonds won a brand new car as well, along with the Metropolitan Team winning one million dollars.
Joe Pavelski scored 22 seconds into the game for the Pacific. Seth Jones and Justin Faulk scored for the Metro to give them a 2 to 1 lead. Connor McDavid tied the game at 2 after a silly poke check attempt by Sergei Bobrovsky. Bo Horvat scored for the Pacific to give them a 3 to 2 lead.
In the second half of the third game, the Pacific was going to take a 4 to 2 lead, but the Metro challenged to see if it was offsides. It was offsides and it changed the game. Cam Atkinson tied the game at 3 with 5:03 remaining. When the Metro had a 4 to 3 lead late in the game, Ryan McDonagh blocked a shot that was going to be a goal with under 30 seconds remaining.
Braden Holtby made 5 saves and Sergei Bobrovsky made 9 saves for the Metropolitan. Martin Jones made 5 saves and Mike Smith made 9 saves for the Pacific. Wayne Gretzky coached the Metropolitan instead of John Tortorella because of an family emergency.
The second half of the NHL season begins on Tuesday.
