Hockey. On. Water. Fountains.
You’ve not had to endure a Philadelphia Flyers game since Tuesday and why’s that? Why it’s NHL All-Star Weekend, baby!
This year’s festivities are being held in Las Vegas and, for once, the NHL is taking the bull by the horns and doing some very cool stuff. Playing hockey on the Bellagio Fountain? Shutting down the whole strip?? Claude Giroux’s last All-Star Game in a Flyers jersey??(pain)? It’s the first time in a long time we’re actually excited for All-Star Weekend so we wanted to give you all a game thread of sorts to hang out, chat about the game, complain about the Flyers (do not do this), all that good stuff. Here’s what you need to know:
First, the rosters. Alex Ovechkin tested positive for Covid on Wednesday morning and will be replaced by your favorite Capitals, Tom Wilson. Captains are Auston Matthews, Joe Pavelski, Connor McDavid, and yours, mine, and our Captain, Claude Giroux.
Here’s how you can watch:
The NHL All-Star Skills Competition presented by DraftKings will air tonight at 7:30PM ET and you’ll be able to watch it here in Philadelphia on ESPN and streaming on ESPN+. And it’s going to be a real show. From the league’ release:
The 2022 NHL All-Star Skills™ presented by DraftKings Sportsbook festivities on Friday, Feb. 4 will open with performances of the Canadian and U.S. national anthems by Golden Knights anthem singers Lynnae Meyers and Carnell Johnson, respectively. The color guard for NHL All-Star Skills and the NHL All-Star Game will be comprised of members of the Las Vegas Local 1285 Honor Guard.
Serving as celebrity judges for NHL All-Star Skills will be actor Emmy Award-winning Jon Hamm, famed singer, comedian, ventriloquist and headliner at New York-New York Hotel & Casino Terry Fator, and hockey legends Paul Coffey and Mark Messier. Magician and headliner at America’s Got Talent Las Vegas LIVE at Luxor Hotel and Casino, Dustin Tavella, will perform an original hockey-themed trick. As previously announced, Anaheim Ducks forward Trevor Zegras, women’s hockey pioneer Manon Rhéaume, three-time Olympic medalist Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and actor Wyatt Russell will participate in All-Star Skills.
Hosting from the Las Vegas Strip, the site of the two newest Skills events – Discover NHL Fountain Face-Off™ on the world-famous Fountains of Bellagio and Las Vegas NHL 21 in ’22™ on Las Vegas Boulevard – will be Canadian comedy star Gerry Dee, alongside ESPN analyst Kevin Weekes and reporter Laura Rutledge.
Then tomorrow, February 5th at 3PM ET you’ll be able to watch the 3-on-3 All-Star main event on ABC or streaming on ESPN+ as well. The league saved some spectacle for the game itself, too:
The anthem ceremony before the 2022 Honda NHL® All-Star Game on Saturday, Feb. 5 will feature a performance of “O Canada” by singer-songwriter Faouzia followed by multi-platinum singer-songwriter Blanco Brown’s rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner.”
The League announced previously that multi-platinum recording artist Machine Gun Kelly will headline the entertainment for the 2022 Honda NHL All-Star Game with a performance in the second intermission presented by Ticketmaster® while multi-platinum, GRAMMY® Award-winning artist/DJ/producer Zedd will open the All-Star Game with a performance during player introductions.
Should be a fun time, friends. Enjoy the show and let us know what you thought about it when it’s all said and done.
If sports betting is your jam, be sure to head on over to DraftKings, the official sponsors of this year’s NHL All-Star Skills Competition.