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Capitals compete in NHL All Star Skills competition

By Michael Marzzacco

ST LOUIS, MISSOURI - JANUARY 24: John Carlson #74 of the Washington Capitals takes part in the Enterprise NHL Hardest Shot event during the 2020 NHL All-Star Skills competition at Enterprise Center on January 24, 2020 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images)
ST LOUIS, MISSOURI - JANUARY 24: John Carlson #74 of the Washington Capitals takes part in the Enterprise NHL Hardest Shot event during the 2020 NHL All-Star Skills competition at Enterprise Center on January 24, 2020 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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On the eve before the NHL All Star Game, Washington Capitals all stars T.J. Oshie, Braden Holtby, and John Carlson competed in various events.

First T.J. Oshie and Braden Holtby participated in the save streak while John Carlson looked to defend his hardest shot title and keep it in Washington for the third year in a row.

Unfortunately, nobody took home any hardware but this is all just for fun anyway.

Before the festivities began each player graced the red carpet and per usual, the boys rocked it.

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The events featured an Elite Women’s 3-on-3 between Team USA and Team Canada, Fastest Skater, Shooting Stars, the Save Streak and Hardest Shot.

Oshie didn’t compete in any individual events but rather helped the Holtbeast out in the save streak where they finished with five consecutive saves.

Later on came the Hardest Shot where John Carlson hit a personal best of 104.5 miles per hour. Despite this, Carlson was edged by Shea Weber of the Montreal Canadiens with his best coming at 106.5 mph.

Carlson won the event last year in San Jose with the winning shot coming at 102.8 miles per hour. This year he came in second place beating out Elias Pettersson of the Vancouver Canucks (102.4), Mark Giordano of the Calgary Flames (102.1), Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning (102.1), and Seth Jones of the Columbus Blue Jackets (98.8).

While winning Hardest Shot would’ve been another great accomplishment for Carlson, he has his sights set on a bigger trophy. The Norris Trophy is a summer award bestowed to the league’s best defenseman and Carlson is making a serious case.

Carlson leads all defensemen at the midway mark with 60 points on the season. He’s fourth in goals with 13 on the season and leads in the assists department with 47 helpers.

Holtby looks for a much improved second half of the season in the quest for another Stanley Cup. His record isn’t terrible but a decent 18-9-4 record. A deeper dive into the numbers show that he has a career-low .897 save percentage and a career-high 3.09 goals-against average. Not good but room for improvement in the second half.

Oshie is most likely feeling nostalgic being at his former city for the All Star Game festivities. After an injury in the playoffs, the veteran has come back stronger than ever with 18 goals on the season thus far, third on the team behind Alex Ovechkin and Jakub Vrana.

More. A midseason look at the netminders. light

It’ll be fun watching these guys take centerstage tonight at the All Star Game. Puck drop is at 8 p.m. on NBC.

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