The 2022-23 NHL all-star game is being held in South Florida. Many fans enjoy the all-star game festivities that take place over the weekend. Personally, I have become a fan of the NHL Skills competition as opposed to the game itself, but there have been some great NHL All-Star Game moments over the years. We had previous compiled a list of the Top 10 NHL All-Star Game moments with Owen Nolan’s called goal as our favourite moment, so we thought it would be interesting to look at some of the fun facts and records surrounding the NHL All-Star Game.
This year, the Seattle Kraken do not have a player at the game after their selection Matty Beniers is being replaced by Vegas Golden Knights forward Chandler Stephenson due to injury. Interesting that the League did not select a different Kraken player such as Andre Burakovsky, Jordan Eberle or Vince Dunn who are all having strong seasons. Well there is some room for improvement in the selection process but we will save that for another day.
20 Fun Facts About the NHL All-Star Game
Here is a look at twenty fun and some forgotten moments from the NHL All-Star games that have taken place over the years. The first NHL All-Star game took place in 1947 when the format was where the Stanley Cup Champions would play a team of NHL all-stars from the other teams in the league (remember there was only six team in the NHL back then).
#20. The first NHL All-Star Game took place at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, October 13, 1947, where the NHL All-Stars defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs by a score of 4-3.
#19. The goaltender who has played in the most NHL All-Star games in Glenn Hall. Hall played in thirteen NHL all-star games from 1955 until 1969. Glenn Hall came in at #10 on out list of the Top NHL Goaltenders of All-Time.
#18. The player who has played in the most NHL All-Star games is Gordie Howe. In total, Mr. Hockey played in a staggering 23 NHL All-Star Games during his NHL career. See Gordie Howe: The Greatest All-Around Hockey Player Ever for more on Mr. Hockey’s illustrious career.
#17. Fastest Three Goals by one team was set at the 1993 All-Star Game in Montreal when Mike Gartner scored two goals 22 seconds apart and Peter Bondra scored 46 seconds later for three goals in 1:08.
#16. Fewest shots in an NHL All-Star Game by both teams is 52. At the 1978 NHL All-Star game in Buffalo the Campbell Conference all-stars were outshot by the Wales Conference all-stars 40 to 12 for a total of 52 combined shots.
#15. Most shots in an NHL All-Star Game by both teams is 102. During the 1994 NHL All-Star game in New York (Madison Garden) the Eastern Conference all-stars outshot the Western Conference all-stars 56 to 46 in a 9-8 win for the Eastern conference. MVP of the game was none other than goaltender of Mike Richter of the home team New York Rangers. For the record the Goals Against Average for the games goaltenders were as follows:
Eastern Conference
- Mike Richter (New York Rangers) 6.00 with a 0.905 save percentage
- Patrick Roy (Montreal Canadiens) 12.00 with a 0.765 save percentage
- John Vanbiesbrouck (Florida Panthers) 6.00 with a 0.750 save percentage
Western Conference
- Arturs Irbe (San Jose Sharks) 6.00 with a 0.889 save percentage
- Felix Potvin (Toronto Maple Leafs) 9.00 with a 0.842 save percentage
- Curtis Jospeh (St. Louis Blues) 12.63 with a 0.790 save percentage
More on the 1994 All-Star Game.
#14. The last time an interference penalty was called in an NHL All-Star Game was in 1984 when goaltender Glenn “Chico” Resch was called for interference by refer Bruce Hood. Source: Scouting the Refs.
#13. The goaltender that has given up the most goals in All-Star Game history in Patrick Roy. Roy who played in 11 NHL All-Star games has given up 31 goals in the games he has played in. (Nine more than the next closest tenders, Martin Brodeur who gave up 22 goals in nine games played and Glenn Hall who gave up 22 in 13 games played.)
#12. The fastest goal from the start of an NHL All-Star game was scored by Rick Nash when he scored 0:12 in against goaltender Rick DiPietro of the New York Islanders at the 2008 NHL All-Star game held in Atlanta.
#11. There have been two (legit) fights in NHL All-Star Game history. The first All-Star game fight in NHL history came in 1948, when Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings squared off against Toronto’s Gus Mortson. Referee Bill Chadwick kicked both players out of the game. The second (and to date last) fight at an NHL All-Star Game happened in 1953 when Red Kelly of the Detroit Red Wings and Bert Olmstead of the Montreal Canadiens squared off. Gordie Howe owns the record for the most penalty minutes in NHL All-Star games with twenty-five.
#10. Fastest Four Goals Scored by One Team happened in 2002 at the All-Star Game in Los Angeles where Team World scored goals by Sergei Fedorov, Markus Naslund, Alex Zhamnov and Sami Kapanen in a span of 2:57 to lead the World to an 8-5 win over Team North America.
#9. The oldest player to ever play in an NHL All-Star game was Gordie Howe who in 1980 at the age of 51 years, 10 months and 5 days played in the game at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit where Howe played many of his games as a Red Wing. The 1980 game also marked the first All-Star game that Wayne Gretzky plated in (age 19).
#8. The record for fastest skater in the NHL Skills competition was set not by Connor McDavid, but by Dylan Larkin of the Detroit Red Wings in the 2016 NHL All-Star game in Nashville where Larkin completed his lap in 13.172 seconds. (Matt Barzal came close in 2020 with a time of 13.175.
#7. There has only been one shutout in an NHL All-Star game. During the 20th NHL All-Star Game that took place in Montreal in 1967, the Montreal Canadiens defeated the NHL All-Stars 3-0. Credited with the win for the Habs was goaltender Charlie Hodge although Montreal’s backup goaltender Gary Bauman played the second period for the Canadiens. Maurice “Rocket” Richard scored the winning goal and was named gamed MVP although Canadiens enforcer John Ferguson scored two goals in the game. The NHL All-Stars outshot the Canadiens 35-30.
#6. Most Goals scored in one period by both teams occurred in 2015 at the game in Columbus where 11 goals were scored in the third period. Seven by Team Toews and four by Team Foligno.
#5. Fastest Goals Scored by One Team happened in San Jose in 1997 as Owen Nolan notched a pair of goals eight seconds apart.
#4. The record for the hardest shot record in the NHL Skills competition is held by Zdeno Chara who in 2012 ripped a shot at 108.8 mph. Shea Weber gets an honorable mention as he had a 108.5 mph shot at the 2015 NHL All-Star game. Did you know that since 1990 when the NHL began conducting its hardest shot competition that only two forwards have won the honors? Sergei Fedorov in 2002 (101.5 mph) and Alex Ovechkin in 2018 (101.3 mph).
#3. Most Goals Scored in an NHL All-Star game is 20 set in 2015 as Team Toews beat Team Foligno 17-12 when the game was held in Columbus.
#2. Most goals scored by one player in an NHL All-Star game is four held by six players (Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Vincent Damphousse, Mike Gartner, Dany Heatley and John Tavares). However, Gretzky is credited with the record as he scored all four of his goals in the third period in the 1983 All-Star Game on Long Island. Gretzky’s linemate (and Edmonton Oilers teammate) Mark Messier assisted on three of the four goals in the third period to set an All-Star Game record for most assists in a period (a record later broken by Adam Oates in 1993 when he had 4 assists in one period).
#1. Most Points in an NHL-All-Star game is held by Sidney Crosby who in 2019 had four goals and four assists for the Metropolitan Team who won the four-team 3-on3 tournament. For his efforts Crosby was named the game’s Most Valuable Player winning a car (a new 2019 Honda Passport) as player of the game. Crosby then proceeded to give the car to an Army veteran.
NHL All-Star Game Resources
All-Star Records – NHL.com
NHL All-Star Skills Competition Stats – Wikipedia
List of NHL All-Star Game Record – Wikipedia
The greatest performances in NHL All-Star Game History – SportsNet.ca
NHL All-Star Game Logo History – Sportslogos.net
NHL All-Star Game: All-Time Results (through 2015) –The Hockey Fanatic
