<p align="center" style="font-size: 10px"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://i0.wp.com/thenationnetwork.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/images/42/e3/article_42e392f9-bc81-4502-8300-33e46f8a9b6d.jpg?resize=600%2C427" alt="USATSI_9844651" width="600" height="427"><br />Photo Credit: Kelvin Kuo/USA TODAY SPORTS</p>
<p>On Saturday night, the National Hockey League hosted the Skills Competition component of their All-Star Festivities. Maple Leafs rookie phenom Auston Matthews made appearances in multiple events, with performances ranging from disappointing to excitement inducing.</p>
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<h2>Introductions</h2>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Just scrolled back to the intros. Man, Auston Matthews looks like he&#8217;s just realized that he&#8217;s at the wrong rink <a href="https://t.co/fwe7miZkax">pic.twitter.com/fwe7miZkax</a></p>
<p>— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffVeillette/status/825509851442925568">January 29, 2017</a>
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<p>Auston got a bog-standard degree of cheering from the crowd, and he didn&#8217;t look overly emotional one way or another. More likely than anything, he&#8217;s still getting his head around the fact that, as a 19-year-old, he&#8217;s here, playing in the NHL All-Star Game.</p>
<h2>Skills Relay</h2>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Auston Matthews struggled a bit on the Skills Challenge Relay tonight. Little bit of nerves for the teenager, maybe? <a href="https://t.co/vGi069j0f3">pic.twitter.com/vGi069j0f3</a></p>
<p>— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffVeillette/status/825506865236807681">January 29, 2017</a>
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<p>In this event, the Atlantic looked to Matthews to help them with their stickhandling. He may have been a bit nervous, though, because those generational hands that we&#8217;ve seen in so many warmups and even games were.. not on display here. Still a good effort, though.</p>
<h2>Accuracy Shooting</h2>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Auston Matthews goes 4/5 (12.28 sec) in Accuracy Shooting <a href="https://t.co/WLNz7nMrey">pic.twitter.com/WLNz7nMrey</a></p>
<p>— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffVeillette/status/825512843290279937">January 29, 2017</a>
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<p>This is where the kid came out to shine. After Patrik Laine disappointed everyone by taking 22 seconds to clear his four targets, Matthews stepped in and hopped over Connor McDavid on the leaderboard, clearing the board in five shots and 12.28 seconds. He was eventually outdone, but it was by Sidney Crosby, and Crosby was getting much faster passes from his puck helpers.</p>
<h2>Shootout</h2>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Auston Matthews misses his attempt in the shootout <a href="https://t.co/VYGWzt2l76">pic.twitter.com/VYGWzt2l76</a></p>
<p>— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffVeillette/status/825528266039640065">January 29, 2017</a>
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<p>Lastly, we had that weird &#8220;bonus points to make most of the event worthless&#8221; competition at the end. Matthews put up a pretty uninspired effort and wasn&#8217;t able to beat Martin Jones. Hopefully, he&#8217;ll be a bit more flashy in the real game tomorrow afternoon; the Atlantic Division won the skills competition and have picked to play second, in the 4:30 game against the Metropolitan Division.</p>

<p align="center" style="font-size: 10px"><img src="//thenationnetwork.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/images/42/e3/article_42e392f9-bc81-4502-8300-33e46f8a9b6d.jpg" alt="USATSI_9844651" width="600" height="427"><br>Photo Credit: Kelvin Kuo/USA TODAY SPORTS</p><p>On Saturday night, the National Hockey League hosted the Skills Competition component of their All-Star Festivities. Maple Leafs rookie phenom Auston Matthews made appearances in multiple events, with performances ranging from disappointing to excitement inducing.</p><h2>Introductions</h2><center>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Just scrolled back to the intros. Man, Auston Matthews looks like he's just realized that he's at the wrong rink <a href="https://t.co/fwe7miZkax">pic.twitter.com/fwe7miZkax</a></p>— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffVeillette/status/825509851442925568">January 29, 2017</a>
</blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
</center><p>Auston got a bog-standard degree of cheering from the crowd, and he didn't look overly emotional one way or another. More likely than anything, he's still getting his head around the fact that, as a 19-year-old, he's here, playing in the NHL All-Star Game.</p><h2>Skills Relay</h2><center>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Auston Matthews struggled a bit on the Skills Challenge Relay tonight. Little bit of nerves for the teenager, maybe? <a href="https://t.co/vGi069j0f3">pic.twitter.com/vGi069j0f3</a></p>— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffVeillette/status/825506865236807681">January 29, 2017</a>
</blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
</center><p>In this event, the Atlantic looked to Matthews to help them with their stickhandling. He may have been a bit nervous, though, because those generational hands that we've seen in so many warmups and even games were.. not on display here. Still a good effort, though.</p><h2>Accuracy Shooting</h2><center>
<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Auston Matthews goes 4/5 (12.28 sec) in Accuracy Shooting <a href="https://t.co/WLNz7nMrey">pic.twitter.com/WLNz7nMrey</a></p>— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffVeillette/status/825512843290279937">January 29, 2017</a>
</blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
</center><p>This is where the kid came out to shine. After Patrik Laine disappointed everyone by taking 22 seconds to clear his four targets, Matthews stepped in and hopped over Connor McDavid on the leaderboard, clearing the board in five shots and 12.28 seconds. He was eventually outdone, but it was by Sidney Crosby, and Crosby was getting much faster passes from his puck helpers.</p><h2>Shootout</h2><center>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Auston Matthews misses his attempt in the shootout <a href="https://t.co/VYGWzt2l76">pic.twitter.com/VYGWzt2l76</a></p>— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffVeillette/status/825528266039640065">January 29, 2017</a>
</blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
</center><p>Lastly, we had that weird "bonus points to make most of the event worthless" competition at the end. Matthews put up a pretty uninspired effort and wasn't able to beat Martin Jones. Hopefully, he'll be a bit more flashy in the real game tomorrow afternoon; the Atlantic Division won the skills competition and have picked to play second, in the 4:30 game against the Metropolitan Division.</p>

Auston Matthews shows skills at All Star Competition

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