Written by Kevin Allen at USAToday.com
The three-on-three format is an imperfect way to decide the winner of the NHL All-Star game, but it is still the best format we’ve seen.
“The entertainment value is pretty good,” Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask said.
Hard to argue after New York Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh made a game-saving kick save in the closing seconds to allow the Wayne Gretzky-coached Metropolitan Division to defeat the Pacific Division 4-3 in the three-on-three All-Star tournament championship game.
Metropolitan goalie Braden Holtby stopped 17 of 20 shots in his two games of work. Who says players don’t come to All-Star games to compete?
“(The final) felt more like a regular-season three-on-three game,” Holtby said.
With seconds to go, and Holtby pulled out of position, McDonagh sprawled to get his skate on a shot from Ryan Kesler that was headed into the net for the tying goal. The puck flew off McDonagh’s boot and struck the post before bounding away.
“It’s a close game and we are all competitive,” McDonagh said. “We didn’t do very good last year — went out in the first game — and we wanted to do a little bit better and found a way.”
Players could tell that Gretzky was committed to winning. He even successfully used a coach’s challenge to overturn a goal by Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid. Gretzky is an executive with the Oilers organization. Tournament MVP Wayne Simmonds (three goals, eight shots in two games) called that challenge “the game changer.”
“You can tell he has a lot of passion and love for the game,” McDonagh said. “He sees the game so well. He was talking about different plays out there, trying to make adjustments. He used his timeout because he knew we needed a breather.”
Players on the winning team split $1 million in prize money.
“If somebody is going to give you 1 million bucks to split, then you go for it,” Ovechkin said.
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