Stars, Senators Shine to Open NHL 20 Player Gaming Challenge

The NHL Player Gaming Challenge kicked off Thursday with several top players competing in the NHL 20 video game. 

While the 2019-20 NHL season is currently on hiatus because of the coronavirus, the league's stars got a chance to compete virtually while raising support for the CDC Foundation's COVID-19 relief efforts. The NHL and EA Sports donated $100,000 for the cause.

Day 1 of the event featured a battle between the Calgary Flames (Matthew Tkachuk and Noah Hanifin) and Ottawa Senators (Brady Tkachuk).

Brady Tkachuk was dominant in the game, finding success with the Senators even though his brother, Matthew, was rooting against him sitting alongside him on the couch.

There was a lot of trash talk going on between the Tkachuks and Hanifin:

It didn't matter as Brady cruised to two easy victories with Ottawa.

The only positive from Hanifin came when he won a fight with himself in the game.

The third matchup was more of an exhibition between Flames teammates Hanifin and Matthew Tkachuk. It finally allowed Hanifin to get on the board with a 4-3 victory, including a game-winning goal in the final minute.

Two more teams were in action Thursday for a two-on-two game as Bryan Rust and Zach Aston-Reese of the Pittsburgh Penguins took on Dallas Stars players Jamie Oleksiak and Stephen Jones.

All three games were close, but Dallas was able to edge out a win each time.

This included a stunning Game 2 victory that saw the Stars score two goals in the final 30 seconds of the third period to win 3-2.

The four players created a physical matchup that featured more penalties than your typical video game, but it just added to the fun.

This was just the start of a long tournament that should keep fans entertained.

All 31 franchises are represented during this event, which features notable players like Filip Forsberg, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Evander Kane among others. The full list of players is available on NHL.com.

The event will continue for several weeks with games released on Thursdays and Saturdays.