Staal’s team dominates SuperSkills event before NHL game

RALEIGH, N.C. – Alex Ovechkin took care of the flash and Zdeno Chara brought the blast. Together, they helped make Eric Staal look like a pretty shrewd general manager.

Ovechkin won his third straight breakaway challenge, Chara broke his 2-year-old record for the hardest shot and players from the All-Star team Staal put together won five of six events Saturday night in the NHL’s SuperSkills competition.

In this prelude to the All-Star game, Staal’s team led from start to finish in a 33-22 victory over Team Lidstrom.

“I thought we did pretty good” choosing the team, Staal said. “Obviously, we’re going to see during the game, but tonight, it worked out with some good wins in some of the events.”

The changes in the All-Star roster format meant a fresh look for the skills competition.

The Carolina captain and Nicklas Lidstrom of Detroit chose up the sides for teams that carry their names one night earlier during a televised 18-round draft. Players earned team points in the skills competition by winning preliminary heats and finals in some contests; by placing first, second or third in others or by scoring goals in the elimination shootout.

Ovechkin, the Washington Capitals’ star, came up with a few nifty moves to win hockey’s equivalent of the slam dunk contest – flipping his stick and bringing the puck in with the knob before flipping it back and beating Marc-Andre Fleury of Pittsburgh.

“I just came up with that,” said Ovechkin, who received 38.5 percent of the fan voting via text messaging.

Chara set the hardest-shot record with a 105.9 mph slap shot in the final of that competition. In addition to that blast and Ovechkin’s breakaway win, Team Staal also produced winners in the competitions for fastest skater (the Islanders’ Michael Grabner, formerly with the Spokane Chiefs), accuracy (Vancouver’s Daniel Sedin) and the shootout (Anaheim’s Corey Perry). Team Lidstrom’s only victory came in the skills challenge relay.

The six goalies came up big in the night’s final event, the score-or-you’re-done shootout. Only Perry and Tampa Bay’s Martin St. Louis of Team Lidstrom made it through two rounds.

Perry went first in Round 3 and his shot got by Tim Thomas and ricocheted in off the crossbar for his third goal of the event. That put the pressure on St. Louis, who faced Carolina’s Cam Ward. St. Louis tried a spin-around backhand and Ward stuffed him to cheers from the hometown crowd.