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Team Foligno blows out Team Toews in wacky skills competition

2015 NHL All-Star Skills Competition
2015 NHL All-Star Skills Competition

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The 2015 NHL All-Star Game Skills Competition featured some friendly rivalry, dazzling individual performances and the goofball wackiness that’s come to characterize the event.

Here’s how it shook out for captain Jonathan Toews and captain Nick Foligno's teams:

Fastest Skater

Jonathan Drouin won’t be playing in Sunday’s All-Star Game, so he did all of his work during the Skills Competition. The Tampa Bay Lightning rookie won the Fastest Skater competition with a time of 13.103 seconds.

The event featured an opening leg battle between Tyler Seguin and Phil Kessel, one night after the two were traded for each other. Well, again. Kessel got the best the Dallas Stars star, 13.596 to 13.631.

Breakaway Challenge

The goofiest event of the night featured some of the greatest highlights.

Ryan Johansen of the host Columbus Blue Jackets donned an Ohio State jersey, wearing his Jackets jersey around his waist. His second attempt had him skating the puck up, stopping, skating over to get the son of the Blue Jackets’ trainer, and having him use a stick to put the puck home.

His third attempt saw him use the “Flying V” from “The Mighty Ducks” – enlisting teammate Nick Foligno, Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings, Duncan Keith of the Blackhawks and Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers – to try and score.

Jakub Voracek may have had the best moment, however, when he mimicked Johansen’s first attempt by using rookie Johnny Gaudreau as his “youth player” to score.

Jan 24, 2015; Columbus, OH, USA; Team Foligno forward Patrick Kane (88) of the Chicago Blackhawks reacts after competing in the accuracy shooting event in the 2015 NHL All Star Game skills competition at Nationwide Arena. (Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports)
Jan 24, 2015; Columbus, OH, USA; Team Foligno forward Patrick Kane (88) of the Chicago Blackhawks reacts after competing in the accuracy shooting event in the 2015 NHL All Star Game skills competition at Nationwide Arena. (Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports)

Shot Accuracy

Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews have developed a friendly rivalry since they joined the Chicago Blackhawks, and on Saturday it continued in the NHL Accuracy Shooting competition. Kane got the best of the Blackhawks captain, winning the event after hitting four targets in a time of 13.529, while Toews completed it in 16.307.

Team captain Nick Foligno was second overall with a time of 13.674.

Skills Relay

Team Foligno won the event that tests several skills with a fastest-heat time of 1 minute, 37.979 seconds. That was despite Patrick Kane fumbling the puck in the stickhandling drill and Carey Price needing a few attempts to score two goals.

Nashville Predators Shea Weber, of Team Toews, takes a slap shot measured at 108.5 mph to win the hardest shot competition during the NHL All-Star hockey skills competition in Columbus, Ohio, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Nashville Predators Shea Weber, of Team Toews, takes a slap shot measured at 108.5 mph to win the hardest shot competition during the NHL All-Star hockey skills competition in Columbus, Ohio, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Hardest Shot

Zdeno Chara’s hardest shot torch has officially been passed on … to Shea Weber. The Nashville Predators blueliner, and three-time runner-up blasted a howitzer that registered at 108.5 mph for Team Toews to give the group the mark for the skills competition. This bested Weber’s personal best of 106.0 mph set in 2012 in Ottawa. It did not beat Chara’s All-Star mark of 108.8 mph also set in Ottawa.

Shootout Relay

Team Toews made some ground up here with 15 shootout goals to Team Foligno’s 10, including a brilliant one-handed move from Filip Forsberg and some good goaltending from Roberto Luongo.

Alas, it was too late. Final score: Team Foligno 25, Team Toews 19.