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Patrick Kane represents Blackhawks at 2018 All-Star Skills Competition

Patrick Kane and the rest of the NHL All-Stars gathered at the Amalie Arena in Tampa on Saturday night for the 2018 All-Star Skills Competition. Kane appeared in a pair of competitions along with his Central Division teammates.

Save Streak Competition

Kane’s first appearance of the night came when the Central Division All-Stars lined up for breakaways against New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. The first five skaters were stopped by Lundqvist before Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan McKinnon put one into the net. Then it was Kane’s turn.

He held the puck a bit as he coasted to the net, dangled a few times, and then fired a wrist shot that Lundqvist stopped with his left pad.

Kane got a second chance minutes later against Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. He approached the net using his trademark slow approach combined with a dizzying series of backhand and forehand touches of the puck. Kane ultimately pulled the puck to his backhand and fired it wide of the net. That move works better against Minnesota Wild goalies, apparently.

Vegas goalie Marc-Andre Fleury won the competition with a save streak of 14.

Puck Control Relay

The other event for Kane on Saturday night was the puck control relay, another new event for the 2018 All-Star weekend. Calgary Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau went first, navigating the course cleanly with a time of 24.65 seconds. Kane was impressed.

Kane flew through the first half of the course at a similar pace as Gaudreau. But on the back half of the course, where players had to lift the puck three gates of varying heights, Kane was just off the mark when trying to guide the puck through the middle height.

Gaudreau’s time of 24.65 seconds turned out to be the event-winner.

In the other three events, Connor McDavid won the fastest skater, Alex Pietrangelo won the passing challenge, and Alex Ovechkin had the hardest shot of the night.

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