Bratt and Team Hughes Drop Thriller at All-Star | GAME STORY

TORONTO, ON - It was a very competitive All-Star Game as both semi-final games went to a shootout. For Jesper Bratt and Team Hughes, they ultimately fell 6-5 in a shootout to the hometown Team Matthews with Alex DeBrincat scoring the deciding goal in shootout round 4.

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Jesper Bratt was playing on a line with Vancouver’s Brock Boeser and J.T. Miller.

"It's been a cool experience for me," said Bratt. "I've been very honored to have been here. It's nice to be back on the ice. I hadn't been on the ice for a very long time."

"I don't have too much to compare to previous years but it was a great experience. The pace was pretty fast out there."

Nikita Kucherov opened the scoring 1:19 to the boos of the Toronto crowd. He broke in alone and deked out Jake Oettinger for the marker.

Bratt fired a shot about a minute later that snuck through the legs of Oettinger but he was able to scoop it up before it crossed the goal line. Bratt also talked about playing with all three Hughes brothers.

"They're amazing players. It's cool to play with all of them. First thing you notice is their skating ability, their quickness, their smoothness," Bratt stated. "When you look at Quinn and Luke compared to Jack, their strides are longer and Jack is pretty quick with more agility."

Alex DeBrincat redirected a feed past Cam Talbot to even the score with 7:17 to play in the first half.

Team Hughes took the lead briefly on a goal by Frank Vatrano but DeBrincat scored again to tie the game up midway through the first half. On a breakaway, the Red Wing fired low glove side to make it 2-2.

Team Matthews took its first lead of the game 2:27 into the second half. Mitch Marner roofed the puck under the crossbar behind Thatcher Demko for the goal and 3-2 advantage.

Midway through the second half, Team Hughes drew back even. Elias Pettersson redirected a pass from Vatrano in past Igor Shesterkin to tie it up but that would be short-lived as Filip Forsberg scored 27 seconds later to regain the lead for Team Matthews.

With 2:58 to go, Quinn Hughes fed Brady Tkachuk across the slot and he wristed it in to knot the game at 4-4.

Hughes then fed Vatrano for his second of the game only 32 seconds later to put Team Hughes up 5-4.

Less than a minute later, Forsberg potted his second of the contest, roofing the puck glove side on a breakaway.

In the shootout, it went as follows:

- Forsberg hit the post for Team Matthews
- Connor was stopped by Shesterkin

- Matthews was denied by Demko
- Team Hughes’ Kucherov was stopped

- Nylander’s shot was stopped by Demko
- Pettersson missed the net for Team Hughes

- DeBrincat scored for Team Matthews
- J.T. Miller was pokechecked

All-Star Memories

Bratt was asked about his favorite memories from his first NHL All-Star Game.

"Being out there on the ice," he stated. "That's the thing I was looking forward to the most. It's cool with the red carpet and draft and everything but being on the ice was the best part of the whole weekend for me."

As for off the ice, the celebrity aspect appealed to him.

"Meeting our captain, (Michael) Buble. Also sitting next to Bieber in the locker room. A pretty cool experience."

Other Results

In the first game of the day, Team McDavid scored two late goals to tie Team MacKinnon and then prevailed in a shootout, setting up a showdown between Team McDavid and Team Matthews.