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SAN JOSE — Sidney Crosby will never be considered a fan favorite inside the walls of SAP Center, not after he hoisted the Stanley Cup on the arena’s ice surface less than three years ago when the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Sharks in six games for hockey’s holy grail.
Saturday, he was given another award in front of thousands of fans in teal, a new car, as he was named the NHL All-Star Game’s Most Valuable Player for leading the Metropolitan Division All-Stars to the 3-on-3 tournament title.
After recording two goals and an assist for the Metropolitan Division in its 7-4 win over the Atlantic Division in one semifinal, Crosby added two goals and three assists in the final, a 10-5 win over the Central Division. It’s the second time in three years the Metropolitan Division won the tournament, as they won a $1 million prize for the victory.
Crosby sat out Friday’s skills competition due to illness, and local fans noticed. He was one of a handful of players Saturday — including Anaheim Ducks goalie John Gibson and Toronto Maple Leafs center John Tavares — that were soundly booed by the capacity crowd of 17,562.
“I heard a few boos, but they’re great fans,” Crosby said on the ice right after the game. “It was a lot of fun today.”
After he picked up the MVP award at one end of the ice, in nearly the same location in 2016 when he grabbed the Stanley Cup from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, Crosby again heard boos along with a smattering of applause.
Crosby is the sixth NHL player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy, Hart Trophy and All-Star MVP, joining Joe Sakic, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Bobby Orr and Jean Beliveau.
“I have some great memories here, for sure,” Crosby said. “When you win in a rink, it’s something you think about every time you go to it. That was the same when I played here a week and a half ago and again today.”
Still, if anyone was looking for a signature moment from the game, like Owen Nolan’s in 1997, they might have been left wanting, especially since the local players were bounced from the tournament early on.
The Pacific Division’s stay in the 3-on-3 tournament was a short one.
In the first semifinal, the Central Division built up a six-goal lead in the first of the two 10-minute halves and cruised to a 10-4 win over the Pacific team, which included Sharks players Joe Pavelski, Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson, in the first semifinal game.
Karlsson scored twice and Burns scored once for the Pacific team, which was down 7-1 after 10 minutes, as the Central team, and the capacity crowd, showed no mercy on Gibson. Pavelski added two assists.
“It’s just a celebration,” Pavelski said. “A lot of great players coming together in a game. It’s fun playing in the city you play for. Every time our names got announced when we stepped on the ice, you hear the little extra roars. It was pretty cool to be a part of.”
Gibson was booed often by the partisan Sharks crowd, as he allowed seven goals on nine shots, with Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen and Chicago’s Patrick Kane both scoring twice. The Avalanche’s Gabriel Landeskog added three goals and one assist.
“I think any time you play a rival and their fans, obviously they don’t love you,” Gibson said afterward. “So, it is what it is. I think it’s just California teams. Us, San Jose, L.A., anytime you play it’s a rivalry and the fans take it personally, so I think that’s what makes it fun.”
Tavares, who elected to sign a seven-year contract with the Maple Leafs last summer, instead of the Sharks, also heard it from the crowd.
“I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but it’s obviously a very proud fanbase,” Tavares said. “They love their Sharks. I wasn’t the only one, so I guess it wasn’t too lonely.”
It was the first time since the NHL introduced the 3-on-3 tournament format for the All-Star Game in 2016 that the Central Division team had beaten the Pacific team. The Pacific Division team had been 3-0 in semifinal games, winning the tournament in 2016 and 2018.
Minnesota’s Devan Dubnyk and Nashville’s Pekka Rinne combined to make 23 saves against the Pacific team.
In the 1997 NHL All-Star Game in San Jose, then-Sharks forward Nolan called his shot for the Western Conference All-Stars and scored on Eastern Conference goalie Dominik Hasek, high glove side,
Nolan, who played eight seasons with the Sharks and remains one of the team’s most beloved alumni, was given a warm ovation by those in attendance when he was shown on the JumboTron early in the first semifinal game. Evgeni Nabokov, the winningest goalie in Sharks history and himself a two-time all-star, was given the same treatment when he was shown.
