McDavid shines in NHL event

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Sidney Crosby got dunked into a tank of water, Nick Suzuki holed a golf ball with a hockey stick and the NHL made hockey an outdoor sport for its skills showcase in South Florida.

Two new events outside in the sun highlighted the league’s annual skills competition at AllStar Weekend, with a handful of players taking turns hitting golf and hockey shots on a par-4 course and others shooting pucks at foam surfboards to dunk opponents with the beach in the background.

Inside the Florida Panthers’ home arena Friday night, Connor McDavid reminded fans and the other top players in the world why he leads the NHL in goals and is on pace to score more than 60. McDavid went 8 for 8 in the accuracy shooting competition, which was won by Brock Nelson of the New York Islanders.

“I wanted to show that I can do some other things,” McDavid said. “I wanted to do something to show I can shoot the puck a little bit.”

One of the biggest stars of the night was Alex Ovechkin’s 4-yearold son, Sergei, who joined his father and dad’s longtime rival Crosby to score in the breakaway challenge against Hall of Fame goaltender Roberto Luongo, the only player to have his number retired by the Panthers.

Montreal captain Nick Suzuki won the “Pitch ‘n Puck” golf event in nearby Plantation, beating Arizona’s Clayton Keller, Dallas’ Jason Robertson and Columbus’ Johnny Gaudreau by draining a birdie putt with his hockey stick

Seven months after winning the Stanley Cup together, Colorado’s Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen won the “Splash Shot” event that featured plenty of pucks sailing into the ocean off Fort Lauderdale Beach.

MORE HOCKEY: At Outpost Ice Arenas, JD Mets scored twice as New Mexico routed El Paso 6-1 Friday in North American Hockey League play. The host Ice Wolves go for the three-game sweep Saturday at 6:30 p.m.