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HOCKEY

Lidström breaks NHL 1,000 point milestone

Swedish hockey player Nicklas Lidström made NHL history on Thursday when he became the first European defender and only the eighth defender overall to reach 1,000 points..

“It feels great,” said Lidström, who assisted in two goals in Detroit’s 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings.

“Especially doing it here at home before fans. It was great to reach that milestone here tonight. I thought we played real well, too, once we got our legs,” Lidström added.

“We did a much better job in our own zone.”

The Swedish star has 229 goals and 771 assists in 1,336 career games.

Jonathan Ericsson and Henrik Zetterberg had a goal and an assist apiece. Tomas Holmström, Kirk Maltby and Brian Rafalski also scored, and Chris Osgood made 24 saves for Detroit.

Dustin Brown and Justin Williams scored for the Kings, and Jonathan Quick stopped 27 shots.

Lidström set up Holmström’s tip-in during a second-period power play, and then fired a shot during four-on-four play in the third period that Zetterberg redirected past Quick.

Lidström helped Detroit go 5-for-5 on penalty kills. Osgood said Lidström was just doing what he has always done in his 17 NHL seasons.

“He was his steady self,” Osgood said. “He’s done it his whole career. He’s just been consistent over a long, long time. He just makes us a lot better.”

The 39-year-old Lidström has played all 1,336 of his NHL games for Detroit.

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NHL

It’s official: Sweden’s Lundqvist is the NHL’s best goalie

Sweden's Henrik Lundqvist made 12 straight saves to win the goaltender competition at the NHL all-star game's skill night.

It's official: Sweden's Lundqvist is the NHL's best goalie
Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers celebrates winning the Ticketmaster NHL Save Streak during the 2019 SAP NHL All-Star Skills contest on Friday in San Jose, California. Photo: Thearon W. Hender
The New York Rangers goalie knocked off Russian Olympian Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who held the lead through several rounds after stopping the first eight shots he faced. 
 
The skill contests held on Friday night in San Jose, California also saw Edmonton Oilers speedster Connor McDavid win his third straight fastest skater title in a competition that included a female participant for the first time.
 
Canada's McDavid charged around the rink in just 13.37 seconds to eclipse Buffalo Sabres forward Jack Eichel, who finished in 13.58 seconds at the SAP Center arena.
 
Kendall Coyne, who plays on the American women's national team, was invited to take part and finished seventh out of eight skaters, beating out Arizona Coyotes forward Clayton Keller. Coyne cruised to a time of 14.34 seconds while Keller, who has 11 goals and 35 points with the Coyotes this season, finished in 14.52. 
 
“I thought she was unbelievable,” McDavid said. “She was absolutely flying out there.” 
 
Last year, Coyne's teammate Hilary Knight did the accuracy shooting drill, but her impressive time wasn't included in the official results.
 
Johnny Gaudreau defended his title in the puck control contest with a time of 27.045, and John Carlson, who captured a Stanley Cup with the Washington Capitals last season, won the hardest shot contest with a blast of 102.8 mph.
 
The NHL all-star game will take place on Sunday.