NHL ALL-STAR SKILLS COMPETITION Airs on NBCSN This Weekend

The best hockey players in the world will showcase their talents in primetime this Saturday night, when NBCSN presents live coverage of the 2016 Honda NHL All-Star Skills Competition in Nashville, Tenn., beginning at 7 p.m. ET.

NBC Sports Group's Kenny Albert will handle play-by-play duties for Saturday night's NHL All-Star Skills Competition, alongside U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame member and analyst Eddie Olczyk, Emmy Award-winning 'Inside-the-Glass' analyst Pierre McGuire, and 500-goal scorer Jeremy Roenick from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

The competition will feature six rounds of skill-based contests, and each of the 44 All-Stars will compete in at least one of the events. Fan-elected captains Jaromir Jagr, Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Kane and John Scott will lead the team selection process for the Eastern and Western Conferences.

Following are the six events in the NHL All-Star Skills Competition:

• Bridgestone NHL Fastest Skater™ - Four players from each team will test their speed, facing off against an opponent in a two-skater race;

• Honda NHL Breakaway Challenge™ - Players will get to showcase their style and creativity in this event, and will get two attempts to score in any way possible on the goaltender;

• DraftKings NHL Accuracy Shooting™ - Players will require pinpoint precision and speed to shoot and hit four targets in each corner of the net in the quickest time possible;

• Gatorade NHL Skills Challenge Relay™ - This timed relay event will feature one timers, passing, puck control, stick-handling and goaltenders shooting the length of the ice to score at the other end;

• AMP Energy NHL Hardest Shot™ - An annual fan favorite, players will fire their hardest slap shots on net from just 30 feet away to see who's got the strongest shot;

• Discover NHL Shootout™ - 18 skaters and three goaltenders from each team will participate in the three-round shootout. During each two-minute round, six skaters and one goalie from each team will take the ice. Teams will alternate after each shot with each player having a maximum of 10 seconds to take a shot.

NBC Sports begins its comprehensive 2016 NHL All-Star Weekend coverage with a one-hour special with the NHL All-Star Friday Night: Live in Music City from Bridgestone Winter Park in downtown NASHVILLE this Friday at 8 p.m. ET. The event will feature interviews and appearances from numerous NHL All-Stars, including P.K. Subban and Steven Stamkos, and performances from country music stars, includingKristian Bush, Big & Rich, John Hiatt and Lee Brice. Click here for more information.

Coverage culminates with 2016 Honda NHL ALL-STAR GAME on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, featuring the new 3-on-3 divisional format inspired by this year's new 3-on-3 overtime format, and $1 million dollars on the line for the winning team. Three-time Emmy Award-winning play-by-play commentator Mike 'Doc' Emrick will call the action, alongside Olczyk, McGuire and Roenick. NBCSN will have on-site pre- and post-game coverage as well, hosted by Liam McHugh, alongside analysts Mike Milbury, Keith Jones, and Roenick.

Following is NBCSN's All-Star Weekend coverage schedule:

Date	Coverage	Network	Time (ET)
Fri., January 29	NHL Top 10 - 3-on-3 (Premiere)	NBCSN	7:30 p.m.
	NHL All-Star Friday Night: Live in Music City	NBCSN	8 p.m.
Sat., January 30	NHL Skills Competition	NBCSN	7 p.m.
	NHL Overtime*	NBCSN	9:30 p.m.
Sun., January 31	NHL Skills Competition (Encore)	NBCSN	2 p.m.
	NHL Live	NBCSN	4:30 p.m.
	2016 Honda NHL All-Star Game	NBCSN	5 p.m.
	NHL Overtime*	NBCSN	8 p.m.
	NHL All-Star Game (Encore)	NBCSN	8:30 p.m.
	NHL Skills Competition (Encore)	NBCSN	11:30 p.m.

*immediately following game coverage

WEDNESDAY NIGHT RIVALRY - FLYERS-CAPITALS - 8 P.M. ET ON NBCSN

All-Star representatives Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Braden Holtby, and the league-leading Capitals return to action tonight on Wednesday Night Rivalry to host the Flyers, after both of Washington's games this past weekend were postponed due to severe winter weather in the Washington D.C. area. The Capitals (35-8-3, 73 pts; 1st in Metropolitan Division) lead the league in wins, points, and fewest goals allowed (99).

Claude Giroux is the sole All-Star representative for the Flyers (20-18-8, 48 pts) who sit in seventh in the Metropolitan Division and have scored the fewest goals in the Eastern Conference (101). Giroux has led the club offensively with 14 goals and 37 points. The Caps won the previous meeting between the two teams this season by a score of 5-2. Albert (play-by-play), Olczyk (analyst) and Brian Boucher ('Inside-the-Glass') will call the action from the Verizon Center.

WEDNESDAY NIGHTCAP - AVALANCHE-KINGS - 10:30 P.M. ET ON NBCSN

The Pacific Division-leading Kings (30-15-3, 63 pts) feature two All-Stars - defenseman Drew Doughty and goaltender Jonathan Quick, currently ranked third in the NHL with 26 wins. Los Angeles leads San Jose in the division by nine points following a 3-2 overtime win against the Sharks on Sunday evening.

Colorado (26-22-3, 55 pts) is currently in fifth place in the Central Division, and suffered a 6-1 loss in San Jose last night against the Sharks. Earlier this month, the Avalanche notched a 4-1 win against the Kings on Jan. 4. Matt Duchene, Colorado's lone All-Star representative, leads the club in goals (22) and points (40).Dave Strader (play-by-play) and McGuire ('Inside-the-Glass') will call the action from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

NBC SPORTS LIVE EXTRA

NBC Sports Live Extra - NBC Sports Group's live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices, tablets and connected TVs - will stream this weekend's NHL coverage via "TV Everywhere," giving consumers additional value to for their subscription service, and making high quality content available to MVPD customers both in and out of the home and on multiple platforms. The NBC Sports Live Extra app is available on the iTunes App Store, Google Play and Windows Store, Roku Channel Store and Apple TV.

2015-16 REGULAR SEASON COVERAGE ON NBC & NBCSN

NBC Sports Group will deliver coverage of 105 NHL regular-season games during the 2015-16 season, featuring 12 games on NBC and 93 games on NBCSN. All games will be streamed live via NBC Sports Live Extra. This year's coverage includes 24 Wednesday Night Rivalry games, 6 Wednesday Nightcaps, 12 Sunday Night Hockey contests, and NHL All-Star coverage.

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