Shooting Stars: Kane breaks tie with Marner to win

ST. LOUIS --Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks got the last laugh by winning the inaugural Gatorade NHL Shooting Stars event at the 2020 NHL All-Star Skills presented by New Amsterdam Vodka at Enterprise Center on Friday.

Booed throughout the evening by the hometown fans, Kane won the event by defeating Ryan O'Reilly of the host St. Louis Blues and Mitch Marner of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the one-shot tiebreaker after each finished with 22 points following their first seven attempts.
"It's kind of a little bit of a trend here with Nashville and now here in St. Louis," Kane said of getting booed. "But those are two of our bigger rivals and we've had some great playoff series with them, and St. Louis and Chicago is a big rival just in any sport. So you can understand the boos a little bit."
Kane remembered that when the Blackhawks defeated the Blues in six games in the Western Conference First Round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs, he scored the winning goal in overtime in Game 4 to even the best-of-7 series at 2-2.
"The boys were asking me why I was getting booed, and I said I shouldn't have scored those overtime playoff goals against them and maybe they wouldn't have booed me," Kane said.

Kane talks about winning the shooting stars contest

But Kane, who is eighth in the NHL with 63 points (25 goals, 38 assists) this season, understood it was all in good fun. And although the 31-year-old right wing wasn't sure what to make of the Gatorade NHL Shooting Stars, he enjoyed winning it.
The event involved 10 players positioned on an elevated platform behind the goal, approximately 30 feet above the ice surface, shooting seven pucks at a variety of targets located on the ice, with each target possessing point values ranging from one point to a 10-point target shaped like the Gateway Arch at center ice.
"I think it's a little bit of luck," Kane said. "We kind of had a pact we're not just going to try to sauce them into the three-pointers and go for the ones up front. We were all going to try to shoot for the Arch."
That was the case in the tiebreaker, too. Kane, O'Reilly and Marner each aimed for the Arch with their extra shot and missed, but Kane's shot bounced and hit a two-point target behind.
"We were kind of joking around I sealed it with a two-pointer," Kane said. "The other guys went for the 10. I went for the 10. They just kind of missed and mine bounced over and hit the two-pointer, so I think it's a little bit of luck, too."
The win capped off a big day for Kane, who earlier was named to the NHL All-Decade First Team along with Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith, Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby, Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin, Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty and Vegas Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.
The six players were chosen by a panel of NHL general managers, NHL hockey operations staff, NHL.com writers, and on-air talent from NBC, Sportsnet and TVA Sports.
"It's a great honor," said Kane, who recorded his 1,000th NHL point with an assist against the Winnipeg Jets on Jan. 19. "Ten years is a long time to be a good player and it's a tribute to myself being consistent but also the teams I've been playing on. I've played on some amazing teams. I'm very fortunate that some of our playoff runs -- five conference finals, three Stanley Cups, some great years in there, too. So yeah, it's definitely a big honor."

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Results
Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks -- 22 points (two in tiebreaker)
Mitch Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs -- 22
Ryan O'Reilly, St. Louis Blues -- 22
Matthew Tkachuk, Calgary Flames -- 20
Marie-Philip Poulin, Canadian All-Stars -- 15
David Perron, St. Louis Blues -- 14
Tyler Seguin, Dallas Stars -- 14
Hilary Knight, American All-Stars -- 14
David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins -- 10
Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa Senators -- 6