The NHL is submerging fully into the South Florida theme at the 2023 NHL All-Star Skills competition.
Last year in Vegas, the All-Star Skills event featured ties to the Fountains of Bellagio and blackjack. This year, it's time to break out the bathing suits and golf clubs.
The skills night is going to have three new challenges this year, with two having ties to the South Florida region. One will take place on the beach in Fort Lauderdale and the other mixes hockey with golf.
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The Sporting News has you covered on all three new events at the skills competition and how each event is scored.
New NHL All-Star Skills events for 2023
Splash Shot
One of the new events for 2023 is the splash shot, an outdoor event that will take place on the beach at Fort Lauderdale.
Eight players are divided into four teams of two. Players are required to hit all the targets before attempting to dunk their opponents in water.
The winner is the first one to dunk their opponents.
Pitch 'n Puck
Six players will participate in the pitch 'n puck, an event that mixes hockey with golf. Players must combine their skills on a par-4 golf to get the puck/ball in the hole.
The player that takes the fewest shots to complete the course is the winner. If there's a tiebreaker, a longest-drive competition will determine the victor.
Tendy Tandem
The tendy tandem is another unique event that is getting its first try this year. The eight goalies at the competition will make up four teams, with each division pairing up its two goalies on one team. One goalie will shoot and the other will tend the goal.
The shooting goalie will take a shot and try to get it into a designated hole. They will be awarded three points if the shot goes in the hole, two if it hits the in-net target and zero if it misses the net.
The in-net goalie will face one, two or three players in a shootout. Players start from center ice and must shoot on the rush. Play continues until all pucks have been shot.
The goalie tandem with the most combined points from the two parts of the event wins.
Vegas NHL All-Star Skills events in 2022
The NHL began creating new events catered towards the location of the All-Star festivities last year.
With the games taking place in Las Vegas, the league created two events with Vegas themes in them.
21 in '22
One of the new events that debuted solely in Vegas was the NHL 21 in '22 challenge. The event was a twist on blackjack that had five players standing on Las Vegas Boulevard and shooting at a deck of oversized cards on a rack.
The goal was to achieve a hand of 21 without going bust in the least amount of shots. Each round was won by the first player to reach 21 or whoever had the highest hand. The first player to win two rounds won the event.
Joe Pavelski was the winner of 21 in '22.
Fountain Face-off
The Fountain Face-off was the second event that took place at the 2022 NHL All-Star Skills competition. Seven participants met at the famed Fountains of Bellagio in Vegas for the outdoor event.
The goal of the competition was to shoot pucks from distance into all five targets in the quickest amount of time. Each time a target was hit, the fountains would go off.
Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski won the event, hitting all the targets in 25.634 seconds in the final.
