Canucks' Pettersson joins elite company with NHL All-Star Hardest Shot win
Vancouver Canucks star forward Elias Pettersson made his mark at the NHL All-Star Skills Competition on Friday night.
The Canucks’ lone representative at the festivities became just the second forward in the last 22 years, and the first since Alex Ovechkin, to win the NHLās Hardest Shot Challenge, a competition Shea Weber and Zdeno Chara dominated for years.
Elias "Hardest Shot Winner" Pettersson. pic.twitter.com/G49jxgibhx
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) February 4, 2023
Pettersson fired a 103.2 mph slap shot, the faster of his two in the competition, opening the event before Josh Morrissey and Seth Jones fired shots below 100mph. Fellow Swede Rasmus Dahlin came close but couldnāt reach Petterssonās marker with his 102.3 mph attempt, while Ovechkinās top shot struck twine at 95.1 mph.
āThe second one felt better than the first one, just tried to keep it low and lay everything into it,ā Pettersson told Sportsnetās Kevin Bieksa on the ice post-competition.
Pettersson finished second in the event as a rookie in 2020, ripping a 102.4 mph slapshot to finish behind Shea Weber while setting the second-fastest speed by a forward. The fastest ever came off the stick of Steven Stamkos in 2016 at 103.9 mph, before he also lost the title to Weber.
As for whether he thinks new Canucks coach Rick Tocchet may ask him to shoot more, well, maybe. ”
I think so; I mean, I’ll listen to whatever he says,” Pettersson added.
The 2023 NHL All-Star Game is Petterssonās third, and his relationship with former Canucks captain Bo Horvat was centre stage on media day before taking the spotlight at the rink on Sunday.
Petey and Horvat going down on a 2-on-0 during the "tandem challenge"
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— Cody Severtson (@CodySevertson) February 4, 2023
Horvat offered his vote for Pettersson to take the Canucksā captaincy on Thursday before the two skated next to each other as Pacific Division team members during the tandem challenge, with Horvat sporting an Islanders jersey for the first time.
The duo will take the ice for one last ride on Saturday in the NHLās 3-on-3 All-Star Game tournament at 12:00 pm PT/3:00 pm ET.
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