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What Lightning fans need to know about NHL All-Star weekend

mari faiello, tampa bay times
·5 min read

TAMPA — After last year’s hiatus, NHL All-Star weekend is back. And in typical Las Vegas fashion, it’s expected to be a showstopper.

The weekend will begin with the All-Star Skills Competition on Friday afternoon, featuring outdoor events at the Fountains of Bellagio and on Las Vegas Boulevard, as well as traditional indoor events inside T-Mobile Arena.

The All-Star Game will be played Saturday afternoon at T-Mobile Arena, home of the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Skills Competition has been made over to reflect its glitzy Vegas setting, while the game itself will keep its exciting, back-and-forth 3-on-3 tournament format.

The back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Lightning, who enter the break with the league’s third-most points, will be represented by three players, the most participating players of any NHL team.

A Tampa Bay area native and several others with ties to the Lightning’s past or present also will be involved in the festivities.

Here’s what you need to know about the NHL’s midseason showcase event.

Lightning front and center

Remember them?

  • St. Petersburg native Laura Rutledge will be among the ESPN reporters (along with analyst and former Lightning goalie Kevin Weekes) calling the action from the two new Skills Competition events outside on the Vegas strip.

  • Manon Rheaume, who became the NHL’s first female goaltender when she played for the Lightning in an exhibition game against the Blues on Sept. 23, 1992, will be one of the goalies in the Breakaway Challenge.

  • Lightning in-game host Greg Wolf will host the All-Star Game from inside the Golden Knights’ “Fortress” at T-Mobile Arena. It will be Wolf’s fourth league event following the 2018 All-Star weekend in Tampa, 2019 Global Series in Sweden and 2021 Stanley Cup final.

Skills Competition

There are two new Skills Competition events this year: the Fountain Face-Off on the Fountains of Bellagio and Las Vegas NHL 21 in ‘22 on Las Vegas Boulevard.

  • Fountain Face-Off: Players will shoot pucks into five targets placed in the water as quickly as possible. The fountain spray and breeze are expected add to the challenge. Qualifying players will move into a head-to-head final.

  • Las Vegas NHL 21 in ‘22: Players will shoot at a set of oversized playing cards hanging from a rack and try to put together a hand of 21 without going bust in the least number of shots. The player who wins two rounds will be crowned Puck Shark.

  • The other five skills events are carryovers from previous years: the Breakaway Challenge, Save Streak, Hardest Shot, Accuracy Shooting and Fastest Skater.

  • Stamkos will take part in the Las Vegas NHL 21 in ‘22 event. Hedman will compete in Hardest Shot competition, Vasilevskiy the Save Streak.

  • Three-time Olympic medalist Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson will compete in the Fountain Face-Off and serve as a passer for the Accuracy Shooting event.

All-Star Game

  • The game itself will be a 3-on-3 tournament, the same format used since 2016. Players from two of the four divisions will meet in one of the first two 20-minute periods, with the winners meeting in the final period.

  • The Atlantic Division in which the Lightning play has yet to win in the current format. However, that could change this year, given the high-powered talent on its roster. The division’s squad features three of the top 11 point-scorers in the league in Florida’s Jonathan Huberdeau (first with 64 points), Stamkos (tied for ninth with 52) and Toronto’s Auston Matthews (11th with 51).

Where to watch

Friday’s All-Star Skills events: 7:30 p.m., ESPN

Saturday’s All-Star Game: 3 p.m., ABC

Atlantic Division roster

Patrice Bergeron, Bruins

Jack Campbell, Maple Leafs

Victor Hedman, Lightning

Jonathan Huberdeau, Panthers

Dylan Larkin, Red Wings

Auston Matthews, Maple Leafs (captain)

Stamkos, Lightning (added via Last Men In fan vote)

Nick Suzuki, Canadiens

Brady Tkachuk, Senators

Andrei Vasilevskiy, Lightning

Head Coach: Andrew Brunette, Panthers

Contact Mari Faiello at mfaiello@tampabay.com. Follow @faiello_mari.

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