Pietrangelo of Golden Knights wins Breakaway Challenge at All-Star Skills

LAS VEGAS -- Trevor Zegras swears he couldn't see.

Which makes his performance in the adidas NHL Breakaway Challenge all the more impressive. The Anaheim Ducks rookie forward -- and special invite to the 2022 NHL All-Star Skills presented by DraftKings Sportsbook at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Friday -- came onto the ice dressed in an Average Joes jersey, a play on Peter La Fleur, Vince Vaughn's character in the movie "Dodgeball."
Ducks teammate John Gibson blindfolded him and, as he was pelted by dodgeballs thrown by a medley of NHL mascots, Zegras spun in a circle and scored.
"'Gibby' actually double-folded it, so I couldn't see at all," Zegras said. "I was devastatingly scared going down. But it ended up working out."
Mostly.
Zegras didn't end up winning the Breakaway Challenge -- that title went to Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo with 19 points coming from judge and actor Jon Hamm to honor the St. Louis Blues' 2019 Stanley Cup win -- but he was a favorite.
"It was a pretty cool move," Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews said. "I don't know. I'd like to see how blindfolded he really was. He made it look pretty easy."

The Breakaway Challenge returned for the first time since the 2016 All-Star Skills in Nashville, when it was won by Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban. Friday featured Manon Rheaume, the first woman to play goalie in an NHL game, and actor Wyatt Russell, who played at the University of Alabama-Huntsville and professionally in Europe, as the goalies for the event.
Pietrangelo, who eclipsed New Jersey Devils forward Jack Hughes's score of 59 with a total of 64 from the voters, started with an ineffectual toss of the puck toward Rheaume. It wasn't good enough for Carrot Top, though, who heckled Pietrangelo from the stands.
The defenseman tried again, bringing the Golden Knights LED drumline, the Drumbots, onto the ice, and scoring while wearing an LED jersey of his own.
It wowed the judges, which included Las Vegas ventriloquist Terry Fator, Hockey Hall of Famers Mark Messier and Paul Coffey, Darren Waller from the NFL's Las Vegas Raiders, and NHL Youth Advisory Board member Dayton O'Donoghue, but none more so than Hamm.
"I'm not saying anything. He gave me 19," said Pietrangelo, who was Blues captain when they won the Cup. "I'm not going to say anything. We have a pretty good history together. We knew each other pretty well. We've shared a few cold ones over the years, let's just say that."

Coming in second was Hughes, who after his own first try added some magic to the mix. He donned a cape and top hat and brought out a magic box into which he tossed a mini stick, mini helmet and mini jersey, eventually revealing a mini Hughes, played by Brekken Scoppetto, the 10-year-old son of New Jersey Devils equipment manager Chris "Frosty" Scoppetto.
"I think we got snubbed a little bit, but it's all fun," Hughes said.
Rounding out the field of five were Chicago Blackhawks forward Alex DeBrincat, who scored 54; and Minnesota Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov, who received 47 voting points.
DeBrincat did his own movie homage, coming out dressed as Zach Galifianakis' character Alan from the 2009 movie "The Hangover," complete with Baby Bjorn (and fake baby). He received a pass from Raiders quarterback Derek Carr and used the football to score. His on-ice posse included a Mike Tyson impersonator and a toy tiger.
"It was definitely out of my comfort zone, but I think it went pretty well," DeBrincat said.
Kaprizov, who went first, ripped off his Wild jersey to reveal the jersey of Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin. Kaprizov's ode to Ovechkin was impressively detailed, with the left-shot forward using a right-shot stick, copying Ovechkin's yellow laces, and doing the "hot stick" after his goal.
Capitals teammate Evgeny Kuznetsov taped the stick like Ovechkin and wrote his name on it, though Kaprizov didn't know whose stick it was.
Ovechkin, who is missing All-Star Weekend after testing positive for COVID-19 this week, responded with "Not bad!!! :)))))" in a tweet.
"I should have probably practiced first before I switched the sticks to the wrong side," Kaprizov said. "The stick was too long for me anyway, so I was probably lucky enough to have scored that."
Kaprizov said his favorite move was by Zegras. So, he was asked, could he have done that?
"I don't think so," he said.
RESULTS
Alex Pietrangelo, Vegas Golden Knights, 64 voting points
Jack Hughes, New Jersey Devils, 59
Trevor Zegras, Anaheim Ducks, 58
Alex DeBrincat, Chicago Blackhawks, 54
Kirill Kaprizov, Minnesota Wild, 47