'Shootout King' Barkov Unveils New Move in All-Star Skills Competition

TAMPA BAY -Already considered one of the league's most creative and exciting shootout artists, Florida Panthers All-Star center Aleksander Barkov unveiled yet another new and effective move during Saturday night's All-Star Skills Challenge at Amalie Arena in Tampa.

Competing in the GEICO NHL Save Streak -- a brand new event in which goaltenders compete to see who can make the most consecutive saves in a shootout-style competition -- Barkov sent social media into a flurry of likes, retweets and shares with his first move of the night against Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

In a beautiful game of cat and mouse, Barkov lured Fleury to the left by faking a one-handed shot with his backhand that the Golden Knights goaltender couldn't resist biting on. With the goaltender now out of position, Barkov deftly slid the puck back to the other side and finished on his forehand.
"What can I say? When I heard that we were going to the shootout I just tried to figure out some move," Barkov said. "I kinda had that in my head for a while. I tried it once in practice and it worked, so I thought I might try it here. I got lucky that it worked."
The goal was so nice that several of Barkov's teammates took to Twitter to share their excitement.
"I love Barky so much lol #FlaPanters #NHLAllStar," defenseman Mark Pysyk tweeted.
"Same," center Vincent Trocheck said, quoting Pysyk's original tweet.
Barkov said he appreciated the support.
"It's awesome," he said. "My teammates are the best."
On his second and final attempt, Barkov, unsure that he would even get the opportunity to shoot another time, attempted to sink a no-look, backhand shot, but was denied by Fleury, who ended up winning the Save Streak competition by stopping 14 consecutive shots from the Atlantic Division.
"I didn't think about second shot at all," he said.
Barkov also participated in the Gatorade NHL Puck Control Relay, which consisted of three different skill-based stages: stickhandling, cone control and gates. During the stickhandling portion, Barkov took the puck through a line of eight other pucks before zigzagging between eight cones. After that, he arrived at what proved to be the most difficult portion of the event - the gates.
No other portion of the puck relay stopped players dead in their tracks throughout the night more than the gates, which involved lifting the puck through various holes at three different heights, with a light dictating which hole the puck needed to be put through. In the end, Calgary's Johnny Gaudreau won the relay with a time of 24.650, while Barkov's time of 33.233 was good enough for fifth.
"It's alright," Barkov said of the event. "It was fun."
Still, for Barkov, the skills competition was all about the shootout.
Barkov has been one of the league's best in the shootout over the last three seasons, going 15 for 21 during that span while earning comparisons to some of the league's all-time shootout greats like Pavel Datsyuk and Peter Forsberg. What's more impressive, however, that he doesn't rely on simply one or two moves, instead owning a deep bag of tricks cultivated over the years of watching YouTube highlights and then turning those move into his own through countless hours of practice.
"He's the shootout king," Sabres forward Jack Eichel said of Barkov. "I asked him before if he had anything up his sleeve. He said no. He was clearly lying."
With the All-Star Game still to be played tomorrow, Barkov said he doesn't have any expectations for the 3-on-3 tournament, but plans to continue soaking it all in and enjoying every moment of his first All-Star Weekend.
"It's one of the best feelings in my career, probably," Barkov said. "For sure, I'll remember this for my whole life. Every moment here, tomorrow, today, I'm going to enjoy every second."