Russians top SuperSkills

MONTREAL – Some feud.

Russian superstars Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin teamed up to the delight of the Bell Centre crowd and both were winners in the NHL’s All-Star SuperSkills competition Saturday night.

Ovechkin successfully defended his breakaway challenge title as the evening’s six events were conducted independently of one another, unlike previous years that featured an overall title contested by the two conferences.

The high-scoring Washington left wing played to the crowd – with a huge assist from Pittsburgh’s Malkin – and garnered 42.8 percent of the fan voting via text messages.

Malkin claimed the shooting accuracy title, hitting three of four targets in a playoff with Ottawa’s Dany Heatley after both nailed all four targets in four shots in the first round.

Boston captain Zdeno Chara broke Al Iafrate’s 16-year-old hardest shot record with a blistering 105.4 mph slap shot on the final attempt of the event.

Phoenix’s Shane Doan scored on four of six penalty shot attempts to outlast Boston’s Marc Savard in the elimination shootout finale that featured all 36 skaters taking turns against goalies Niklas Backstrom of Minnesota, the Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers, Anaheim’s Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Boston’s Tim Thomas.

Montreal’s Carey Price and Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo, who both recently returned from injuries, did not take part in the elimination shootout.