Saros, Hellebuyck win Tendy Tandem at 2023 NHL All-Star Skills

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Juuse Saros and Connor Hellebuyck spent two hours avoiding saying who really wanted to do what.

The goalies, who teamed up to represent the Central Division in the Discover NHL Tendy Tandem at the 2023 NHL All-Star Skills presented by DraftKings Sportsbook on Friday, were trying to be deferential to other's wishes by not declaring who was going to be the shooter and who would play in goal for the competition.
Finally, Saros, the Nashville Predators goalie, told his Winnipeg Jets counterpart, "I would prefer to shoot."
And his delayed honesty paid off.
Saros and Hellebuyck won the debut of the Tendy Tandem with 13 points, best among the four pairs of goalies. They beat out the Pacific Division duo of Logan Thompson (Vegas Golden Knights) and Stuart Skinner (Edmonton Oilers), who had 11 points.
Andrei Vasilevskiy (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Linus Ullmark (Boston Bruins), representing the Atlantic Division, were third with nine points. The Metropolitan Division tandem of Igor Shesterkin (New York Rangers) -- the reigning Vezina Trophy winner as the NHL's best goalie -- and Ilya Sorokin (New York Islanders) was last with six points.
"It feels good," Hellebuyck said. "Coming into this one, I wanted to give it my all. Me and Juuse talked about it in our strategy, and our strategy worked."
He said the win was a big deal for bragging rights and maybe "a little bit of money."
RELATED: [2023 NHL All-Star Game coverage]
The Central and Pacific competed against each other, followed by the Atlantic against the Metropolitan.
One goalie from each division was designated as the shooting goalie and one the in-net goalie. The shooting goalies earned three points by scoring an ice-length goal through a cardboard five-hole and two points for hitting the net.
The in-net goalies then faced rushes of three, two or one player(s), based on the number of points earned by the shooting goalie in their tandem.
Skinner, Ullmark and Sorokin were the other shooting goalies.
Saros scored one goal and hit the net once, and Hellebuyck stopped all five rushes he faced.
Hellebuyck said his shot is accurate but not heavy, so he didn't mind being in the net. But he had another reason.
"I kind of got some new pads," Hellebuyck said. "I wanted to show them off in the net, maybe get some puck marks on them, that was my thought."
Saros said he's also confident in his shooting ability, particularly after watching former Predators goalie Pekka Rinne's stickwork as his backup. Rinne scored in a 5-2 win at the Chicago Blackhawks on Jan. 9, 2020.
Saros didn't seek shooting advice from Rinne before the Tendy Tandem.
"I was just trying to remember how he used to do [it]," he said.
Skinner was the only other goalie to score a goal in the event. Ullmark hit the net twice, and Sorokin shot wide on all five of his attempts.
The Central goalies were impressed by Canada women's national team forward Sarah Nurse, who scored on Shesterkin with the one-handed backhand move made famous by Hockey Hall of Famer Peter Forsberg.
"'The Forsberg'? It was good," Saros said of Nurse's move. "And obviously good for our team."
Saros said the challenge of the competition was getting a handle on the rules and that he didn't know about them until a couple of hours beforehand.
"It took a while to figure it out," Saros said. "It was a little complicated at first when they explained it. But once we got the hang of it, it was fun."
Hellebuyck said it was a little difficult being the in-net goalie with very little time to warm up.
"I thought I made some really good saves -- a couple of bars -- so I did my job," Hellebuyck said. "It was tough going in there. I was getting a little tight. I needed another warmup, that was sure, but I didn't get it. But yeah, I thought I did my job."
Hellebuyck said he would compete in the event again.
So would Saros, but he still wants to shoot.
RESULTS
Connor Hellebuyck (Winnipeg Jets) and Juuse Saros (Nashville Predators) of Central Division defeated Logan Thompson (Vegas Golden Knights) and Stuart Skinner (Edmonton Oilers) of Pacific Division, 13-11
Linus Ullmark (Boston Bruins) and Andrei Vasilevskiy (Tampa Bay Lightning) of Atlantic Division defeated Ilya Sorokin (New York Islanders) and Igor Shesterkin (New York Rangers) of Metropolitan Division, 9-6
NHL.com independent correspondent Alain Poupart contributed to this report