NHL teams
Scott Burnside, ESPN Senior Writer 7y

Connor McDavid's speed, Sidney Crosby's accuracy, Justin Bieber's goal among skills highlights

NHL

LOS ANGELES -- Highlights from the annual All-Star Saturday:

Youth almost served: If there is a consistent theme to this season and, thus, by extension this All-Star weekend, it is the array of young players having a significant impact around the NHL. It was fun to watch the inaugural All-Star appearances for Auston Matthews, 19, the first pick in last June's draft, and Connor McDavid, 20, the generational talent who was selected first in the draft by the Edmonton Oilers in 2015 and who leads the NHL scoring race. In target shooting, both Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs and McDavid hit four targets on five shots, the crowd noise rising as each target disintegrated. For fun, though, the old man (OK, he's just 29), Sidney Crosby, went 4-for-4 to win the competition and later scored in the shootout as the Atlantic Division won the overall skills competition. McDavid did go on to win the fastest skater race, although he could not best the record set a year ago by Dylan Larkin of the Detroit Red Wings.

Weber was better: Different jersey, same result for Shea Weber, who defended his fastest-shot title with a 102.8 mph slap shot, although it wasn't close to the Zdeno Chara record of 108.8. You might argue that the fastest skater is the marquee event of the skills competition, but for me it's the fastest shot. Maybe it's the brute-force thing. Los Angeles Kings hometown favorite Drew Doughty (and a teammate on two Canadian Olympic gold-medal winning teams with Weber) admitted after the competition that he was disappointed Weber didn't break the record set by the Boston Bruins captain in 2012. Weber said earlier all he cared about was not losing to former Nashville Predators teammate Seth Jones, now with the Columbus Blue Jackets, so it was mission accomplished for the imposing Montreal Canadiens defenseman.

L.A. story: One of the backstories of what is the third All-Star Game in Los Angeles is the evolution of the game in the entertainment mecca and throughout California. A huge crowd at Staples Center for the skills competition certainly let the players know there was only one California team they cared about, lustily booing Ryan Kesler and Cam Fowler of the Anaheim Ducks and Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns of the San Jose Sharks, even though this weekend they are all teammates on the Pacific Division squad. Much to the delight of the partisan crowd, Pavelski whiffed on one of the shooting events, and then amid a smattering of boos was denied on a shootout by Canadiens goalie Carey Price near the end of the competition. Burns, immune to booing, did nail a top-corner shot for the Pacific. Still, even the hard-bitten Kings fans couldn't help but cheer when Kesler's son Ryker took a shot in place of his father during one competition and later "scored" five-hole on Price during the shootout.

Celebrity takedown: The skills competition was preceded by a celebrity charity event that included, among others, Canadian singer Justin Bieber, actor Cuba Gooding Jr. and some of the players named to the league's top 100 players of all time Friday night. For the record, Team Gretzky eked out a 5-3 victory over Team Lemieux. What made the afternoon special, at least from Gooding's perspective, was the fact that current players Patrick Kane and McDavid joined in the competition. And Bieber did score a goal, albeit into an empty net after missing on a penalty shot, although the highlight might have been Bieber being playfully squashed into the boards by Hall of Famer Chris Pronger. Proceeds from the event go to Echoes of Hope a nonprofit organization started by Hall of Famer and current president of business operations for the Kings Luc Robitaille and his wife Stacia.

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