Sidney Crosby hasn't attended many all star games. This weekend will be only the second time he has taken part. It is tough to come up with things that we haven't seen from Sid before and last night he provided us with something new.
Sidney Crosby showed off his shooting prowess by winning the accuracy shooting competition
Sid sure can snipe. #NHLAllStar pic.twitter.com/dnST411O05
— NHL (@NHL) January 29, 2017
He went four for five in 10.73 seconds. Auston Matthews had gone four for five right before Crosby's attempt so there was some pressure on Sid to perform.
Crosby was also successful during his stick handling portion of the relay and scored on his breakaway attempt with his trusty five hole snap shot. All in all a successful return to the skills competition for Crosby. It was his first competition since 2007.
Some other random thoughts on the night:
The new even which had the players trying to shoot pucks in the net like it was Score-O dragged. While it may have produced one of the better moments of the evening the probability of a goalie making the shot Mike Smith did is too low to bank on for entertainment purposes. If it wasn't for Smith's miraculous shot the event would have been a complete waste. I wouldn't advise keeping this particular event around.
Real recognize real.
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 29, 2017
Sidney Crosby gives Mike Smith props on his incredible shot in the skills competition. pic.twitter.com/fbBt260QgG
Connor McDavid (13.301) won the fastest skater competition and in my opinion he broke the all-time record for the event that was previously set by Mike Gartner (13.386). Dylan Larkin had a faster time last year, but when he went he was able to take a few strides for a "running" start. Last night McDavid was at a standstill start which is the same as Gartner. Logic dictates that McDavid deserves the record.
Shea Weber kept his hardest shot title with a winning number of 102.8 mph. This wasn't quite the 108.5 he put up last year. Only Patrik Laine broke the 100 mph barrier with Weber.
I like the breakaway competition. It has always been one of my favorites, but last night's was a dud. Perhaps the shootout being part of regular NHL action has taken some of the luster away from the event. There weren't many players that were willing to try something fun with their attempt. There were a lot of boring and fruitless shooting attempts. Even Crosby's goal was blah. We've seen that move 100 times already. I was hoping more players would try and bust out some more ridiculous stuff in that setting.
This is bringing back fond memories. 😉 pic.twitter.com/HcqQBhehiX
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 29, 2017
The saucer passes into small nets remains the most impressive skill and toughest thing players have to do on the night.
The NHL landed their best celebrity pull of all-time by having Snoop Dogg DJ the opening sequence. What the NHL probably wasn't counting (but should have been) is that Snoop Dogg is not one for censorship.
When you hire Snoop Dogg to host your All-Star skills competition, know that he doesn't do radio edits https://t.co/FOEh5UW3Pf pic.twitter.com/In1HEB8Mr0
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) January 29, 2017
Here's a perfect photo
Super Mario https://t.co/l4UHzTuGJW pic.twitter.com/LDVLl3Hohp
— Snoop Dogg (@SnoopDogg) January 29, 2017
In another round of one of these things doesn't look like the other(s)...
Gretzky, Lemieux, Orr, Crosby & Toews participate in roundtable discussion hosted by Doc Emrick - one-of-a-kind event airing later this year pic.twitter.com/JPx7OWJSV9
— NBC Sports PR (@NBCSportsPR) January 28, 2017
Sidney Crosby and his Metropolitan Division teammates will be in action at 4:30PM today against the Atlantic Division.
Hopefully coach Gretzky can arrange for this duo to play together.
Happening now. pic.twitter.com/u6BWIlKeCK
— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) January 29, 2017
Thanks for reading!