Team Red wins Sens Skills

The skills were on display on Thursday night at Canadian Tire Centre as Team Red, captained by Matt Duchene, bested Mark Stone's Team White by a single point after 6 events.

Team Red's biggest contributor ended up being Nicholas Paul who singlehandedly earned his squad points in three different events which included setting a new Sens Skills high in the hardest shot competition. Paul's record-setting blast clocked in at an astounding 108.3 which bested Fredrik Claesson's previous mark set.
"I knew I had a pretty good one but I didn't know it would be 108," said Paul after the event. "On my first one I said to myself 'whatever you do, don't miss the net'. We all saw Smitty fall on the carpet which was amazing so I didn't want to toe-pick and fall into the net or anything."
It turns out Paul had previous experience in testing his shot and tonight's event brought back some childhood memories.
"When I was growing up we had an outdoor rink and my dad bought a little radar," Paul said. "I can't remember what I'd get but I'd be out there always trying to beat my best score."

And, after tonight, he's left an impressive high score for future Sens Skills competitors to chase.
Fans in attendance were also treated to a few other surprises including seeing new goaltender Anders Nilsson in "action" for the first time with his new club and Jean-Gabriel Pageau participating as a member of Team Red after missing the entire first half of the season with an achilles injury.
"It was nice to get that competitiveness again which is something you don't have when you're skating by yourself," said Pageau. "This event is always fun and it's amazing to see the support from our fans. They've been behind us through the good times and the bad times and they came out for Sens Skills again. It's a really fun night for us so hopefully they enjoyed themselves too."
Pageau also hinted that a return to game action might happen in the very near future and he's excited to re-join his teammates as soon as possible.

Here's a look at all the event winners from the 2019 Sens Skills:
- Puck control relay Team: White - Puck control relay Individual: Zach Smith (White) - Fastest Skater Team: White (16.13 avg.) - Fastest Skater Individual: Nick Paul (14.24) - Hardest shot Team: Red (103.13) - Hardest shot Individual: Nick Paul (108.3) - Accuracy Team: White (11for-19 - 57.89%) - Accuracy Individual: 4/5 Ryan (White), Paajarvi (Red), Tkachuk (Red) - Skills competition: White (8:32) - 3on-3: Red (1-0) (Nick Paul)