Connor soaks in experience of NHL All-Star Skills Competition

LAS VEGAS - There certainly wasn't a lot of time for Kyle Connor to get acclimated to his first National Hockey League Skills Competition.
The 25-year-old's event, the Fastest Skater, was the first competition on the docket Friday night at T-Mobile Arena.
And in 13.851 seconds, it was over.
"It was a lot of fun," said Connor. "It was pretty laid back. It was cool to see what people bring to the table and bring different skills and have some fun with it.
"You just sit there, talk to the guys and have a good time. It was a cool experience."

Connor finished sixth in the event, with his time being three tenths of a second behind the eventual winner - Jordan Kyrou of the St. Louis Blues. He finished ahead of Washington's Evgeny Kuznetsov and good friend, Dylan Larkin.
"I was just grateful I didn't fall coming around the corner," Connor laughed. "It's a little tough, pretty steep coming into some of those turns. It seemed like they moved them back a bit, but all in all, it was good."
The Jets forward helped out in the Save Streak event, where goaltending tandems from each division try to turn away shooters from another division on consecutive breakaways - all vying for the longest streak.
Connor's two breakaway attempts were stopped by Vancouver's Thatcher Demko and Anaheim's John Gibson.
But the highlight for Connor was watching all the creativity in the popular Breakaway Challenge.
"Most times you come down and try something creative, but it's Vegas, they did it up," he said. "They brought in some extra props and even a magic trick out there."

That event was won by Vegas Golden Knights defenceman Alex Pietrangelo, but Anaheim's Trevor Zegras - who donned a jersey from the movie, Dodgeball, and did his breakaway move blindfolded - caught Connor's attention for the puck handling prowess his fellow American showed.
"A ton of respect for that," said Connor. "He was telling me you only get one chance at it. I'm sure he had a little bit of nerves coming into that one. He pulled it off. It was pretty sick."
Next up, Connor and the Central Division will face off with the Atlantic Division on Saturday during the All-Star Games.
The Pacific Division will take on the Metropolitan, with the games getting underway at 2 pm CT at T-Mobile Arena.
The 3-on-3 format will no doubt suit Connor well. In fact, the last two times he's played at T-Mobile Arena as a member of the Jets, he's scored the overtime winner against the Golden Knights.
Those overtimes in the regular season just happen to be 3-on-3 as well.
"There will be a lot of ice," Connor said. "I'm sure there will be a lot of goals. Hopefully we can get a win.
FULL RESULTS
Fastest Skater: Jordan Kyrou (STL) - 13.550 seconds
Save Streak: Jack Campbell (TOR) and Andrei Vasilevskiy (TBL) - 9 consecutive saves
Fountain Face-Off: Zach Werenski (CBJ) - 25.634 seconds
Hardest Shot: Victor Hedman (TBL) - 103.2 mph
Breakaway Challenge: Alex Pietrangelo (VGK) - 64 points
21 in '22: Joe Pavelski (DAL)
Accuracy Shooting: Sebastian Aho (CAR) - 10.937 seconds