Big goalie, little kid are NHL stars

LOS ANGELES — Big Mike Smith and little Ryker Kesler stole the show at the NHL AllStar Skills Competition.

The towering Arizona goalie scored a 188-foot goal during the Four Line Challenge on Saturday night, and the 6-yearold son of Anaheim Ducks center Ryan Kesler scored on Montreal goalie Carey Price during the Shootout.

The Atlantic Division won the overall competition and chose to face the Metropolitan Division today in the second semifinal period of the All-Star Game, which was changed last year to a 3-on-3 tournament among teams from each of the NHL’s four divisions.

NHL scoring leader Connor McDavid won the Fastest Skater competition, and Montreal defenseman Shea Weber had the hardest shot in the All-Star field for the third consecutive season, albeit with his lowest speed yet. Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby won the Accuracy Shooting competition, and he joined Weber and Boston’s Brad Marchand as the only adults to score in the shootout.

The event ended with a shootout competition between the Atlantic and Pacific teams, but just four of the 20 skaters scored. One of them was Ryker, who beat the grinning Price five-hole and celebrated with a two-fisted pump while his All-Star dad filmed him on his phone.

OLYMPICS: Deputy commissioner Bill Daly acknowledged Saturday that the NHL’s Board of Governors doesn’t want to shut down the league to allow its players to participate in the Pyeongchang Olympics next year.

The players gathered in Los Angeles for All-Star weekend are unanimously hopeful they’ll be allowed to play.