MacKinnon, Makar score wins at NHL All-Star Skills competition
Feb 2, 2024, 6:37 PM | Updated: 10:23 pm
Avalanche superstars Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar both scored individual wins at the NHL All-Star Skills competition on Friday night in Toronto.
MacKinnon won the One Timers competition by earning 23 points. The goal was draped with targets, with different zones earning a different amount of points. MacKinnon went top-shelf multiple times, earning four points for each of those.
He edged Boston’s David Pastrnak, who scored 22 points. There was some initial confusion about who scored more, but after further review, it was MacKinnon.
🔝🧀 #NHLAllStar https://t.co/ZadPp1WpK9 pic.twitter.com/BGaT6wPl4h
— NHL (@NHL) February 3, 2024
Not to be outdone, Makar then got second in the NHL Passing Challenge, also scoring 23 points. He was edged out by Elias Pettersson of Vancouver who hit a target at the buzzer to take the win with 25 points.
But then Makar came right back and won the NHL Hardest Shot competition. He registered a shot at 102.56 MPH. He was able to just edge out Vancouver’s J.T. Miller who checked in at 102.34 MPH. They were the only two players to break 100 MPH.
IT'S CALE MAKAR! 🗣️
The @Avalanche defender is the @Rogers @NHL Hardest Shot winner. 👏 pic.twitter.com/solttdS86v
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 3, 2024
The winner of the event got a cool $1 million, with Makar and MacKinnon both in contention about halfway through.
Later Alexandar Georgiev bested all the goalies in the one-on-one and had the toughest assignment, stopping Connor McDavid. He saved more pucks against the former MVP than any other goalie who made saves against anyone.
“I just tried to look like a beer league goalie, I tried to compete and enjoy the moment,” Georgiev said on the broadcast.
Georgiev won $100,000 for his efforts and said he didn’t have plans for it quite yet.
Neither Makar nor MacKinnon finished on top, with Nate getting eliminated before the final round. McDavid beat out MacKinnon in the obstacle course to win the Skills challenge and took away the $1 million from Makar, who finished second. McDavid helped the NHL design the new competition, so it’s no surprise he won.
