Florida Panthers home star Matthew Tkachuk scored a hat trick while the Red Wings' Dylan Larkin added 2 goals as the Atlantic All-Star team defeated the 2022 All-Star champion Metropolitan Division team 10-6 in the 2nd All-Star semifinal.
Tkachuk only needed 36 seconds to open the scoring, giving ATL the early 1-0 lead. They would make it 2-0 with Larkin's 1st of the game at 4:08. The Blue Jackets' Johnny Gaudreau opened the scoresheet for the MET with eventual back-to-back goals at 5:20 and 5:40, even getting his own hat trick later on, but it wasn't enough to take down the ATL squad. After the 2-2 tie, the Penguins' Sidney Crosby made it 3-2 at the 6:19 mark of the 1st half. The MET squad would tie things at 3 courtesy of Matthew Tkachuk's brother Brady of the Ottawa Senators at 6:59 of half number 1. The Canadiens' Nick Suzuki restored the ATL lead 4-3 at 7:55 for the final goal of the 1st half.
In the 2nd half, Gaudreau completed his hat trick just 25 seconds in, tying the game at 4. Crosby gave the MET the lead again at 1:58 and then the Capitals' Alex Ovechkin made 6-4 ATL at the 2:21 mark. The ATL team would make it 6-6 from goals by Matthew Tkachuk, his 2nd of the game at 3:49, and Nikita Kucherov at 4:31. It would kick start a total of 6 straight goals by the ATL squad, as Suzuki's 2nd of the game at 5:51 followed by Matthew Tkachuk's hat trick at 6:49, then Larkin's 2nd of the game into an empty MET net at 9:00, capped off by the Bruins' David Pastrnak at 9:47.
The ATL team outshot the MET by a margin of 23-19 (insert Monsters Inc. joke here) while winning 8 faceoffs to the MET's 12. And just like the previous semifinal between the Pacific and Central, neither squad registered any hits or penalty minutes for the entire game.
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