OTTAWA — Patrick Kane’s Superman cape and Zdeno Chara’s blistering slap shot weren’t enough to beat Daniel Alfredsson and his team stocked with hometown favorites in the NHL all-star skills competition Saturday night.
Team Alfredsson beat Team Chara 21-12, easily clinching the victory in the final-round shootout challenge. Alfredsson had one of his team’s 10 shootout goals in outscoring Chara 10-3.
That was enough to get the hometown crowd on its feet, cheering on a Senators-stocked team that Alfredsson selected in the draft Thursday night.
Chara broke his own skills competition record for hardest shot with a blast at 108.8 mph. That bettered the mark of 105.9 he set last year.
Chara gave his team a shot — literally and physically — by helping his team to a 3-2 win in the fifth round of the competition, cutting Alfredsson’s lead to 11-9.
“I tried to do my best. Obviously I wanted to do it over here as well. I had great years in Ottawa and I’m happy I could do it,” Chara said. Chara spent four seasons with the Senators before signing with the Boston Bruins in 2006.
Entertaining as the competition was, it was competing with troubling news regarding Sidney Crosby’s status shortly after the event began. The Pittsburgh Penguins announced that Crosby had a neck injury which had fully healed, in addition to a concussion, after getting a diagnosis from a doctor in California.
General manager Ray Shero said he is “optimistic” Crosby will play again this season.
