The captain of the Pittsburgh penguins played a hand in the best part of the mostly dreadful 2023 NHL Skills Competition.
The Pittsburgh Penguins' only representative at the 2023 NHL All-Star Game is fittingly their captain Sidney Crosby who is in the midst of a standout season.
Crosby may have been the only Penguins player at the event, but he made sure he wasn’t alone all weekend and was part of one of the highlights of the Skills Competition.
During the Breakaway Challenge, Crosby was paired with rival Alex Ovechkin, but it was Ovechkin’s son who garnered all of the attention.
Crosby and Ovechkin brought out Ovechkin’s son, 4-year-old Sergei, to take part in the challenge and earn a perfect score from the celebrity judges.
“Fun to share that moment,” Crosby said. “His son loves the game and it was cool to see him out there.”
Prior to the Skills Competition, Ovechkin noted that the two have a special friendship these days as they’ve grown older in the NHL, occasionally texting or calling each other.
Ovechkin hopes to get beers with Crosby following their careers and Crosby was fully on board.
The Breakaway Challenge wasn’t the only even Crosby participated in, however; he and his good friend Nathan MacKinnon teamed up for the Splash Shot that took place outside at a beach setting.
Crosby and MacKinnon lost in the first round of the event, but it wasn’t a full deserved loss in their eyes.
They asked for a redo thanks to some faulty props, but nothing came from the request.
“We did, it must have gotten lost somewhere,” Crosby said. “I think Nate wanted another chance at it. Just the way it worked out.”
Overall the event could have gone much better, but that’s for the league to figure out.
Crosby teamed up with a rival to be part of what was arguably the most memorable moment of the entire night.
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