Tkachuk Brothers shine for Atlantic to win NHL All-Star Game
The Daily Goal Horn
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The Tkachuk Brothers were the brightest stars of the All-Star Game with their father, former NHL power forward Keith rooting them on.
When the 3-on-3 tournament was over, the Atlantic Division was victorious, with Matthew Tkachuk of the host Florida Panthers win MVP.
“Unreal experience,” Matthew Tkachuk said via NHL.com. “This weekend is unreal, but it is a lot of moving parts and it’s definitely not a break. You’re going everywhere, especially being the host team, but we had an unreal time with it. I really, really enjoyed it.”
Central tops Pacific
St. Louis Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko collected one goal and three assists to lead the Central Division to a 6-4 victory over the Pacific Division in the first semifinal of the All-Star Game tournament on Saturday in Sunrise, Fla.
Tarasenko is considered one of the top trade bait candidates of the upcoming trade deadline set for March 3.
“I’m focused on the games,” Tarasenko said at NHL All-Star Game Media Day on Thursday. “I don’t think I should waste my time and energy to be focused on things I cannot control. You can ask [general manager Doug Armstrong] what’s going to happen.”
NHL.com
Arizona Coyotes forward Clayton Keller recorded two goals and an assist and Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Seth Jones added one and two, respectively.
Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche scored two goals for the Central.
The key for the Central was its goaltenders. Winnipeg Jets netminder Connor Hellebuyck made seven saves and Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros turned aside 11 of 13 shots.
Elias Pettersson of the Vancouver Canucks scored two goals and San Jose Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson recorded a goal and an assist for the Pacific. Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid also tallied in the loss.
Logan Thompson of the the Vegas Golden Knights and Stuart Skinner of the Oilers each stopped four of seven shots.
Atlantic rallies by Metro
Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk collected a hat trick as part of a five-point performance in his home arena, lifting the Atlantic Division to a 10-6 victory over the Metropolitan in the second All-Star Game tournament semifinal Saturday in Sunrise, Fla.
Brady Tkachuk, his younger brother and captain of the Ottawa Senators, recorded one goal and three assists.
Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin had two goals and an assist and Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki tallied twice. David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins and Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning also scored a goal for the Atlantic.
Mitch Marner of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Aleksander Barkov of the Panthers both registered three assists.
Linus Ullmark of the Bruins surrendered three goals on seven shots in the first period, while also recording an assist. Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning stopped 10 of 13 shots in the second period.
In the final to come later on Saturday, the Atlantic Division will face the Central stars, who claimed a 6-4 win over the Pacific Division. The winning team will share a $1 million prize pool.
Johnny Gaudreau of the Columbus Blue Jackets scored three goals for the Metropolitan stars, while Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins netted two goals and an assist. Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals scored one goal and set up two others and Artemi Panarin of the New York Rangers had three assists.
“It’s cool to play with Sid and Ovi,” Rangers’ defenseman Adam Fox said after picking up an assist. “To see them doing stuff out there together, it’s really cool for a younger guy like me to be around that stuff.”
Igor Shesterkin of the Rangers stopped five of nine shots in the opening period before Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders allowed five goals on 13 shots.
Matthew Tkachuk leads Atlantic, win MVP
Dylan Larkin of the Detroit Red Wings scored three goals, while Matthew Tkachuk of the Florida Panthers collected one goal and one assist on his home ice to lead the Atlantic Division squad to a 7-5 victory over the Central Division in the All-Star Game final Saturday at Sunrise, Fla.
The Atlantic duo dominated the day. Tkachuk, who was named the three-on-three tournament’s MVP, collected three goals and five points in his team’s 10-6 semifinal victory over the Metropolitan Division, while Larkin scored twice in a three-point game.
“It’s something I’ll never forget, this whole four or five days of being here together,” Brady Tkachuk said after collecting a goal and four assists. “Usually at this time of the year we’re so busy hunkering down, focused on our respective seasons. It’s nice to take a break from that and just be together and have the number of people we had here. It was amazing.”
Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning scored once and added an assist in the final, while David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins and Rasmus Dahlen of the Buffalo Sabres added single goals. Mitch Marner of the Toronto Maple Leafs added three assists after he also contributed three in the semifinal.
Linus Ullmark of the Boston Bruins stopped all six shots he faced in the opening half, among them a breakaway save on Mikko Rantanen in the opening seconds. Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning stopped 11 of 16 shots he faced in the second half.
The champions will share a $1 million prize pool.
Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche collected one goal and two assists for the Central Division, while his teammates Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon posted one goal and one assist. The Central Division advanced to the final by beating the Pacific Division 6-4. Jason Robertson of the Dallas Stars and Clayton Keller of the Arizona Coyotes also scored for the Central.
Juuse Saros of the Nashville Predators blocked 11 of 14 shots in the first half, while Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets made seven saves in the second half.
Tkachuk opened the scoring 36 seconds into the clash with a wraparound goal, and Kucherov doubled the lead at 4:05 with a redirect of a pass from Marner seconds after Ullmark made another clutch stop at the other end of the rink.
Larkin scored on a partial breakaway set up by Marner with 42.2 seconds remaining in the first half to give the Atlantic a 3-0 lead, and added another when he ripped a shot from the slot two minutes into the second half.
Rantanen finally put the Central squad on the board at 4:05 of the second half when he converted the pass from MacKinnon, but Pastrnak scored on a breakaway with 2:46 remaining in the clash.
Robertson kicked off a crazy final couple of minutes by scoring with 73 seconds on the clock only to see Larkin cap his game seven seconds later and make it a 6-2 count and put the game out of reach.
After Keller scored, Dahlin — seconds after failing to convert on a penalty shot — tallied with 36 seconds on the clock only to see MacKinnon and Makar score in the dying seconds.
–Field Level Media
–The Daily Goal Horn contributed to this article