{allcanada} McDavid of Oilers wins $1 million prize at 2024 NHL All-Star Skills

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TORONTO -- Connor McDavid is $1 million richer after the Edmonton Oilers captain won the 2024 NHL All-Star Skills presented by DraftKings Sportsbook at Scotiabank Arena on Friday.
 
McDavid secured the victory in the Pepsi NHL Obstacle Course, winning his fourth of eight events with a time of 40.606 to finish with 25 points. 
 
"I thought it was entertaining," McDavid said. "From a competitive side, it definitely got competitive out there. I was huffing and puffing. Guys were working hard trying to put on a good show, and I feel like we did that and can feel good about it. Ultimately, it's up to the fans and I hope they enjoyed it."
 
McDavid needed to finish second or better to defeat Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar, who was second with 20 points and in the Obstacle Course with a time of 43.435 seconds.

Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews finished third with 18 points in the eight events.
 
"I knew it was done," Makar said "… It's tough to beat [McDavid]; he's the guy to beat coming in and he earned it. It was a tough one."

Each of the 12 participants had the choice of taking part in four of the first six events. Players earned points based on their finish: First -- five points; second -- four points; third -- three points; fourth -- two points; and fifth -- one point. The top eight point earners advanced to the seventh event, the Honda/Hyundai NHL One-on-One. After seven events, the top six point earners advanced to the Obstacle Course, where the points for the top five finishes were doubled.

McDavid won the Fastenal NHL Fastest Skater event for the fourth time in his career, posting a time of 13.408 seconds, narrowly defeating Mathew Barzal of the New York Islanders, who posted the only other time under 14 seconds (13.519). Barzal won the Fastest Skater event at 2020 NHL All Star Weekend with a time of 13.174 seconds.

Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon won the Tim Hortons NHL One Timers event with 23 points, besting forwards Leon Draisaitl (Oilers) and David Pastrnak (Boston Bruins), who each had 22.

Chicago Blackhawks rookie center Connor Bedard, who is still recovering from a fractured jaw sustained last month, served as a special guest passer for the One Timers event.

"It's good. I mean, obviously not doing a lot but taking it all in," Bedard said. "Just watching these guys is a lot of fun. Obviously being in Toronto, a pretty big hockey market, it's cool to see the turnout. It's fun.

"Of course, you want to be (playing in the All-Star Game), but I'm grateful to be here and I get to enjoy it."

Vancouver Canucks forward Elias Pettersson won the Scotiabank NHL Passing Challenge with 25 points, two more than Makar.

Makar won the Rogers NHL Hardest Shot, delivering a shot at 102.56 miles per hour, just ahead of Canucks forward J.T. Miller (102.34). Through four events, Makar led with 11 points, one ahead of Pettersson, four ahead of Barzal and six ahead of McDavid and MacKinnon.

"I was a little surprised, to be honest with you," Makar said. "I don't know if I've ever hit a puck over 100 miles per hour. Pretty cool. … I don't think I focus on hitting it as hard as I can (during games), but there were a few guys on our team that were telling me I should do the hardest shot, so I thought I might as well try it. I've never really done it, so I thought it would be cool just to see and it worked out in my favor today."

But McDavid won his second event, the Upper Deck NHL Stick Handling Challenge, with a time of 25.755 seconds. Barzal finished second (26.929). McDavid climbed the standings with the win and tied Pettersson at 10 points, trailing Makar and Barzal, who each had 11.

McDavid won his third event in the Cheetos NHL Accuracy Shooting, hitting four targets in 9.158 seconds, just ahead of Matthews (9.341 seconds). The win put McDavid in first place after six events with 15 points, four ahead of Makar and Barzal, five ahead of Pettersson and seven ahead of Matthews.

"It felt competitive out there -- for the most part it did," Matthews said. "I thought it was good, especially when you are winding down to the last couple of events and you see where you are at on the leaderboard, it was definitely a little extra motivation to sneak in that second round and then anything can happen.

"I thought it was cool. This was the first year doing this [format]. It's never going to be perfect, but I thought it was a good base for the future and continue to have skills competitions in somewhat like this format."

Pastrnak, Draisaitl, Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov and Vancouver defenseman Quinn Hughes were eliminated after six events. That left eight competitors for the One-on-One event, where the competitors each chose one of the eight All-Star goalies to face.

Maple Leafs forward William Nylander won with nine points against Cam Talbot of the Los Angeles Kings. Alexandar Georgiev of the Avalanche earned $100,000, leading all goalies with nine saves against McDavid.

"It's super cool, I would say," Georgiev said. "I would say honestly it's kind of like a game; you compete and then you get satisfaction from performing well, and then you have to let it go. But I enjoyed it for sure."

Georgiev was the last of eight goalies to be chosen by a shooter, though he said he did not think that meant the shooters wanted to face him the least.

"Guys were trying to have fun and pick maybe fun matchups, maybe," Georgiev said. "I thought Barzal was looking at me the whole time and I was ready to go, but he picked Igor Shesterkin. Probably wanted that New York matchup."

MacKinnon and Pettersson were eliminated after the One-on-One, leaving six competitors for the final event, the Obstacle Course. McDavid led with 15 points, 1.5 ahead of Barzal, three ahead of Makar, Matthews and Nylander, and five ahead of Miller.

"I was most nervous about the passing (during the Obstacle Course)," McDavid said. "I was really nervous about the passing, the sauce into the mini nets -- so nervous that I kind of fumbled through the gates there -- but I kind of made my way through and knew I was on a pretty good clip, and I had some time to spare. I was just thinking, 'Don't miss [the net],' and thankfully I didn't."

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