Atlantic Division, Tkachuks win NHL All-Star Game; cousin Kevin Hayes braces for postgame trash talk

SUNRISE, Fla. — Carried by an unbeatable bond, one of brotherhood, the Atlantic Division was crowned the winner of the NHL All-Star Game tournament, taking down the Metropolitan Division, 10-6, and then the Central Division, 7-5, on Saturday.

Brothers Matthew and Brady Tkachuk combined for 12 points across both games. Matthew, the host Florida Panthers’ All-Star, was the tournament MVP with four goals and three assists. Metropolitan All-Stars Kevin Hayes (the Tkachuks’ cousin) and Johnny Gaudreau (their family friend) said they’re sure they’ll have to suffer through the Tkachuks’ bragging at dinner after the game.

“From Matthew? For sure,” Gaudreau said. “Definitely [will] be hearing from him.”

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Matthew helped the Atlantic jump out to a 3-0 lead in the first period of the championship game, scoring the first goal and assisting on the second. Dylan Larkin scored the third goal and then added two more in the second period for the third hat trick of the tournament. Matthew and Gaudreau had the other two hat tricks.

Led by Avalanche All-Stars Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon, the Central Division made a last-minute push. Makar and MacKinnon each scored and assisted on two goals in the final seconds to close the gap to 7-5.

However, the host division took home the title, with cheers from the Panthers-heavy crowd in FLA Live Arena.

The Metropolitan-Atlantic Division game featured relationships of every type. There were family connections (the Tkachuk brothers and Hayes). There were friends and former teammates (Hayes and Gaudreau played together at Boston College). And there were iconic rivalries (Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby).

All the connections paid off. The Tkachucks kicked off the game with a pass from Brady to Aleksander Barkov to set up Matthew for a goal on the rush. In the first game, the brothers scored nine total points, and they scored all but one of their points together.

For the Metropolitan, Gaudreau and Hayes skated on a line, and Hayes batted down an Atlantic pass to set up Gaudreau’s third goal.

“We decided once the rosters came out that we were going to play together,” Hayes said. “Some of my best memories playing hockey were in college with him.”

Icons Ovechkin and Crosby showed off some chemistry as they passed back and forth up the ice to set up both of Crosby’s goals. Crosby then earned a secondary assist on Ovechkin’s goal.

Ahead of the game, New York Rangers All-Star Adam Fox mentioned he was kind of nervous because he was the only defenseman on the Metropolitan team. With three lines, the team needed two forwards to play out of position. New York Islander Brock Nelson and Hayes stepped up.

Hayes, whom Flyers coach John Tortorella has criticized for not defending well, said he was talking on the bench with Fox about how nervous he was. He was going to have to defend the best players in the league.

But Gaudreau had faith in him.

“In college, [former Boston College coach] Jerry York put him on the penalty kill as a defenseman because he had such a long stick,” Gaudreau said.

Hayes helped his line finish as the only one not in the negative. The blocked pass that set up Gaudreau came while Hayes was a defender.

“That was funny,” Hayes said with a laugh.

» READ MORE: Kevin Hayes’ ‘glue guy’ role, John Tortorella’s reputation, and more Flyers notes from NHL All-Star Weekend

With no defensemen in front of them to help stop the NHL’s best shooters, all the All-Star goalies finished with save percentages that probably would get them pulled in normal games. Each game featured a minimum of four goals scored by each team.

Through the first two games, each of the four goalies gave up at least two goals. Juuse Saros stopped 11 of 13 shots for the best save percentage of the play-in games. He made a big save on his first shot before giving up back-to-back goals. He didn’t allow any more from there, despite facing an extra skater at the end.

However, in the championship game, Linus Ullmark became the only goalie to post a shutout. He stopped all six shots he faced in the first period. Ullmark’s performance gave the Atlantic a 3-0 lead going into the second and final period.