Eastern Conference wins skills competition
Alex Ovechkin won the breakaway challenge.
Atlanta, GA - Toronto’s Tomas Kaberle went 4-for-4 in the accuracy shooting event to highlight the Eastern Conference’s 9-6 victory in the 2008 edition of the annual NHL SuperSkills competition at Philips Arena.
The skills competition began with the new Obstacle Course Relay and the Eastern Conference team of Ottawa’s Jason Spezza, Pittsburgh’s Sergei Gonchar and Boston’s Marc Savard and Tim Thomas registered a 6-5 win in round one over the Western Conference team of Vancouver’s Henrik Sedin, San Jose’s Joe Thornton, Anaheim’s Chris Pronger and Detroit’s Chris Osgood.
The second round featured the Eastern Conference team of Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin, Philadelphia’s Mike Richards, Montreal’s Andrei Markov and the Islanders’ Rick DiPietro against Anaheim’s Corey Perry, Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk, Phoenix’s Ed Jovanovski and San Jose’s Evgeni Nabokov, who represented the Western Conference.
Both squads earned a point after battling to an 8-8 tie.
Edmonton’s Shawn Horcoff won the fastest skater event (4.395) after besting Buffalo’s Brian Campbell (4.865) in the head-to-head heat between the fastest skaters from each conference. The Eastern team finished with the best average (4.698).
The Western Conference grabbed a 4-3 lead in the competition after Calgary’s Dion Phaneuf won the elimination shootout.
The YoungStars game featured the best of the rookie crop from the 2007-08 campaign. The Rangers’ Brandon Dubinsky scored two goals en route to MVP honors, as the Eastern squad skated to a 6-2 win in the first period. New Jersey’s David Clarkson, Washington’s Nicklas Backstrom, Boston’s Milan Lucic and the Rangers’ Marc Staal also lit the lamp, while Chicago’s Patrick Kane and Phoenix’s Peter Mueller tallied for the Western team.
In the second period, the Western squad scored four unanswered goals to notch a 4-1 win. Kane, Edmonton’s Sam Gagner and St. Louis’ Erik Johnson and David Perron scored. Backstrom scored the lone goal for the Eastern squad.
The Western All-Stars held a 5-4 lead heading into the accuracy shooting event. Kaberle and Nashville’s Jason Arnott faced off in the finals with each contestant hitting 3-of-4 targets. In the tie-breaker, Kaberle drilled the lone target after Arnott had missed to tie the competition at five. The Eastern Conference won the accuracy event by going 14-for-25 to forge ahead 6-5.
Boston’s Zdeno Chara was clocked at 103.1 miles per hour to claim the individual title in the Hardest Shot Competition and the Eastern Conference averaged a winning mark of 100.1.
Washington’s Alex Ovechkin won the breakaway challenge with a 60-52 margin over Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf, but the Western Conference averaged a score of 49.3 to account for their final point.
“It was pretty fun. I think everybody had fun,” said Ovechkin. “I think the fans liked it.”
Popularity: 3% [?]
