TAMPA, Fla. – Seconds, fewer than nine to be exact, separated Wild center Eric Staal from a first-place finish.
But Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo's run through the passing challenge at the NHL's skills competition Saturday inside Amalie Arena during All-Star weekend was just a bit cleaner, sending Staal home without the $25,000 prize money but still with plenty of memories.
"I thought I might have had the time to beat," he said.
The event was one of the more challenging of the exhibition, as the eight contestants had to hit targets that lit up randomly and put a pass over a barricade and into four mini-nets, among other tasks.
Staal was the first to clock in under a minute at 54.679 seconds; Pietrangelo was at 46.61.
"That was hard," said Staal, who also shot three times in the save streak challenge for goalies. "But it was fun. Once you watch a couple guys go through it, you kind of get a better idea of what you need to do."
When he wasn't on the ice, Staal spent much of the night next to two of his three sons on the bench. Parker, 8, and Levi, 6, had the entire Western Conference lineup autograph their Central Division jerseys and also snapped a photo with Lightning star Nikita Kucherov before sitting next to Staal in the locker room after the event.
"I have been fortunate to win a Stanley Cup, to play in All-Star Games in the past, to do all these things," Staal said.
