Canucks impress at NHL All-Star skills competition

Quinn Hughes skated like the wind, Elias Pettersson shot like he was mad at the puck and Jacob Markstrom made save after save after save after save after save at the 2020 NHL All-Star Skills Competition Friday night in St. Louis.

The event kicked off with the Fastest Skater contest, with Hughes the first to take part. He tore around the ice finishing with a time of 14.263, not far off event winner Matt Barzal and his time of 13.175.

Hughes said after the event he wasn't so much concerned with speed as he was with not falling. In that case, mission accomplished.
Markstrom took part in the Save Streak contest and led for the majority of the event with five consecutive saves, before Jordan Binnington took home top spot making 10 straight saves, including stopes on Hughes and Pettersson.
Although Marky didn't win, former Canucks defenceman and current Sportsnet guest commentator Kevin Bieksa made Markstrom a $100 bet that he wouldn't stop five straight shots. So Markstrom did end up a winner after all, yet the real winners were Anze Kopitar's young son and daughter, who were on the bench when Markstrom returned, cash in hand. He gave them each some money for ice cream.

In the second final event of the night, Pettersson put the NHL on notice that not only does he have slick hands, sweet dekes and a crazy accurate shot, the power of his shot is also nothing to mess with. In the Hardest Shot event, Petey's blast reached a top speed of 102.4 mph, which had him in top spot until John Carlson (104.5 mph) and Shea Weber (106.5 mph) decided to put on a show. Still, Petey impressed even himself. He said afterwards he just wanted to break 100.0 mph.

Next up for Hughes, Pettersson and Markstrom is the NHL All-Star Game, which plays out Saturday night at 5 pm PT.