Tampa Bay Lightning F Nikita Kucherov Beats Dylan Larkin’s Fastest Skater Record (Video)

While he may not have come home with the top honors, Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov wasted no time breaking records at the 2017 NHL All-Star Skills Competition.

The National Hockey League has hit the pause button on the regular season for a couple of days so a handful of the best and brightest the league has to offer can descend on the Staples Center in Los Angeles for the 2017 All-Star Weekend.

As just about everyone here in the Bolts Nation knows by now, the Tampa Bay Lightning have two players representing the team at the yearly event. Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman and forward Nikita Kucherov were the players chosen to participate. This is the first time to the All-Star Game for both players.

Now, there is plenty of action involved in the All-Star Weekend; however, there are a few events of particular interest to the fans. The first of those is the NHL All-Star Skills Competition. The second is the All-Star Game itself. Today, it’s the All-Star Skills Competition that has our attention.

Lightning leading point scorer Nikita Kucherov was set to participate in three events at the Skills Competition; the Honda NHL Four Line Challenge, the Bridgestone NHL Fastest Skater, and the Discover NHL Shootout. While Kucherov may not have brought home top honors, he definitely had a noteworthy performance.

At the 2016 NHL All-Star Skills Competition, Detroit Red Wings rookie Dylan Larkin set a new NHL record for the fastest skater, coming in at 13.172 seconds. Unfortunately for Larkin, his record would only last one year before it was broken, not once, but twice.

The first player to break Larkin’s record, none other than the Lightning’s leading goal scorer…Nikita Kucherov! Kucherov would face off against Columbus Blue Jackets forward Cam Atkinson. For much of the race, Kucherov and Atkinson would be neck and neck. It wasn’t until the final stretch when Kuch’s afterburners truly kicked in.

When he crossed the finish line, he would come in at 13.160, just .012 ahead of Dylan Larkin’s previous record. However, as the old saying goes…whether it was by an inch or a mile, a win is a win. Unfortunately, as we mentioned previously, Kucherov was not the only one to break Larkin’s record.

Later, the Central Division would take on the Pacific Division in the same event. Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon would take on Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid in the same event. McDavid would win the day, coming in at 13.020. McDavid came in just .14 seconds faster than Nikita Kucherov.

As we mentioned before, Kucherov may not have come up the champion in the end, but he did, in fact, set a new NHL record in his very first visit to the NHL All-Star Game. This is an accomplishment if there ever was one.

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Hopefully, when Kucherov and Hedman make their way back to the Tampa Bay Lightning to take on the Boston Bruins, some of the mojo these two found at the All-Star Game will rub off on their teammates and the Lightning will finally find a way to dig themselves out of their hole and salvage the remainder of the season.