CROSBY SHOWS MATTHEWS THE ROPES
Leafs rookie comes up short against wily vet at all-star skills competition in Los Angeles,
When the NHL all-star skills matchups came out, they looked delicious: Auston Matthews vs. Sidney Crosby in two events, a chance for Matthews to measure himself against the best in the game. The Leafs rookie didn’t see it that way. “It’s kind of a lose-lose for me, to go against the best player in the world in two categories,” Matthews said earlier.
Sure enough, he was right. The Penguins’ captain bettered him in both, perhaps drawing on his experience to get into Matthews’ head. The young Leaf looked nervous, fumbling the puck three times in the stickhandling competition while Crosby was flawless.
“He knew we were going head-to-head, and he said he was messing with my gear,” said Matthews.
“That’s probably why my first one was bad.”
Crosby had a “who, me?” look on his face, then confessed.
“I asked him if he picked the stick I sawed in half,” said Crosby.
Matthews was terrific in the shooting accuracy contest — four targets on five shots in 12.28 seconds — but Crosby was better, doing it in 10.73 seconds.
“He made me look bad there,” Matthews said of Crosby. “I was feeling pretty good. Four out of five, then he goes four-for-five three seconds faster. I guess that’s the reason he’s got 28 goals this year.”
Crosby said Matthews put pressure on him in the shooting event.
“He’s a sharp-shooter. I knew I was going to have to be quick and accurate to have a chance against him,” said Crosby.
Despite Crosby’s superiority over Matthews, the Atlantic Division — captained by Carey Price — won the skills competition and the right to choose to play Crosby’s Metropol- itan side in Sunday’s second game of the three-on-three tournament.
“It was a little nerve-wracking to begin with,” said Matthews. “It’s tough going into those cold, not warmed up, but it was a blast.”
The Staples Center crowd — it wasn’t a sellout, but it was close — enjoyed a full day of events that started with a celebrity game featuring Canadian singer Justin Bieber. Chris Pronger bodychecked Bieber into the corner. They both laughed.
Oilers captain Connor McDavid was the fastest skater, lapping the rink in 13.386 seconds, just off Dylan Larkin’s record (13.310) set last year.
Canadiens defenceman Shea Weber retained his title as hardest shooter, registering 102.8 m.p.h.
Arizona goalie Mike Smith scored a goal from one end of the ice into the five-hole at the other.
But the show-stopper was Ryker Kesler, Ryan Kesler’s 8-year-old son, who scored the only goal in the shootout against Price.
“I think I’ll get over it,” said Price. “He’ll remember scoring that goal the rest of his life.”