The Tampa Bay Lightning sent three players to the All-Star festivities in Columbus. Captain Steven Stamkos and Tyler Johnson were selected to play in the game itself, and Jonathan Drouin was selected to participate in the skills challenge as one of the league’s top rookie.
For Johnson, the team’s leading scorer, his weekend never got past the draft on Friday night. The morning of the skills competition, Johnson withdrew from the All-Star activities due to a lingering lower-body injury.
Here is a break down on how the rest of the All-Star weekend broke down for the members of the Lightning.
Drouin Wins Fastest Skater
Anyone who watches the young forward play knows how amazing he is with the stick on the puck. Turns out he can flat out fly as well.
Drouin won his head-to-head matchup against Matt Hoffman of the Ottawa Senators, earning a point for his team during the skills competition.
He then earned another point when nobody was able to top his time of 13.103, winning the fastest skater competition overall.
It was a great showing for Drouin, who also scored a goal on the team-wide shootout with a quick and deadly wrist shot.
Here’s to hope that he gets to display that sometime soon when the season opens backup.
Stamkos in Hardest Shot Competition
One for one of the deadliest one-timers in the league, it was only natural for Stamkos to take part in the hardest shot competition.
The Lightning captain went head-to-head against Carolina Hurricanes’ defenseman Justin Faulk and beat him out in both of their shots.
Stamkos hammered out a 98.8 MPH slap shot to start things off, before finishing up with a shot slightly slower with 97.5. He did beat Faulk in both instances however.
Stamkos Being Stamkos in All-Star Game
Even though he was the only Lightning player to participate in the game itself, Stamkos kept busy enough scoring two goals and assisting on another.
Both goals were scored on breakaways, with Stamkos showcasing a nice power move around a defender to get to the net (all though, it’s not like everyone was giving it 100% on the defensive end, still was a nice move).
For the assist, Stamkos set up Bobby Ryan for an one-timer to make the score 14-10.
It was a very eventful weekend for the Lightning, both good and bad. Drouin got to show off his skills to the hockey world (those who weren’t familiar with his skillset) and Stamkos got to be, Stamkos.
The downfall was hearing that Johnson’s injury is still nagging him. Here’s hoping this was more of a precaution as oppose to a full blown reaggrevation.