Los Angeles Kings Host Successful NHL All Star Weekend

It’s safe to say that the All Star Festivities hosted by the Los Angeles Kings and the entire city of LA were a resounding success, and it was capped off today with a victory for the Metropolitan Division in the 3-on-3 tournament.

Former Los Angeles player Wayne Simmonds took the MVP trophy in a frenetic back-and-forth tournament that featured some slick stickhandling, unselfish passing, and very little defense.

Current Los Angeles stars Jeff Carter and Drew Doughty helped the Pacific Division reach the finals in front of their home Staples Center crowd.

It was essentially an opportunity for players to have some fun out on the ice at the expense of the goaltenders, who were largely hung out to dry on nearly every possession.

The goalies can’t really complain, though, because pressure was basically nonexistent on their part throughout the games.

As odd-man rushes and breakaways were constantly thrown at them, they showed off their own skills with some absurd saves. When they did let pucks past, nobody could blame them.

In the first game of the tournament, the Pacific Division earned a commanding victory over the Central Division 10-3.

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The winning goaltender for Pacific was Mike Smith, while the losing goaltender for Central was Corey Crawford.

Every player on Pacific had at least 1 goal and 1 assist in the game.

Johnny Gaudreau lead the team with 2 goals, while Cam Fowler lead the team with 4 points.

Tyler Seguin was the only Central player to register multiple points by dishing out 2 assists. The goals came from Jonathan Toews, P.K. Subban, and Vladimir Tarasenko.

In the second game, the Metropolitan Division secured a win against the Atlantic Division by a score of 10-6.

The winning goaltender for Metropolitan was Braden Holtby, while the losing goaltender for Atlantic was Tuukka Rask.

The game was tied 4-4 at one point, but Metropolitan eventually asserted itself. The only player who didn’t receive a point on their team was Ryan McDonagh.

Cam Atkinson, John Tavares, and Simmonds all had 2 goals for Metropolitan in that game. Atkinson and Tavares each lead the team with 4 points.

The only player on Atlantic held without a point was Frans Nielsen. Nikita Kucherov lead the team with 2 goals, and tied for the team lead with Vincent Trocheck by tallying 4 points.

The finals was the lowest scoring contest of them all, with Metropolitan edging out Pacific 4-3 to win the $1 million prize.

That game was tied 3-3, but with under 5 minutes left, Simmonds put in the game winning goal on an assist from Taylor Hall.

Holtby was the winning goaltender, while Smith took the loss. Holtby saved all 5 shots against him in his 10 minutes of work in that final.

Carter and Doughty each got an assist in that game, as did Gaudreau and Ryan Kesler. The Pacific goals were scored by Joe Pavelski, Connor McDavid, and Bo Horvat.

The Metropolitan goals were scored by Seth Jones, Justin Faulk, Atkinson, and Simmonds. Hall and Faulk each had 2 points for Metropolitan in the final.

Simmonds and Atkinson tied for the tournament lead with 3 goals apiece. The Metropolitan team had to overcome the absence of head coach John Tortorella as well.

Wayne Gretzky stepped in to coach the team, and had quite a weekend for himself after being named one of the 100 greatest players in the 100 year history of the NHL on Friday.

A large group of those 100 players shook hands with the current All Stars before the game began, in a perfect display of honoring the past while simultaneously embracing the future.

Gretzky even made a crucial coaching move in that final game. He challenged an opposing goal and eventually got it overturned when replay revealed that McDavid was offside.

Next: Jeff Carter and Drew Doughty Take Part in Skills Competition

The weekend was a terrific celebration of all that makes hockey great. The league should be very proud of the show they put on in Los Angeles.

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