NHL All-Star Game Blog

Keeping you up to date on the 56th NHL All-Star game period by period:

1st Period:

12 seconds in the West jumps out to an early lead Rick Nash scores all by himself, we could be on pace for a high scoring affair with 15 first time all-stars in tonight’s contest. Nash sets a record for fastest goals breaking a 58 year old record. Previous fastest was 19 seconds.
WEST 1 East 0

A little over a minute later The Canes Eric Staal nets his second career ASG goal to tie the festivities at one. A great assist by Buffalo’s Brian Campbell, who says those teams don’t play well together?
EAST 1 West 1

Canadiens defenseman Andrei Markov pinches from the point and scores a nifty goal with some helpers.
EAST 2 West 1

Chris Osgood is getting shell shocked and the man who excited the crowd in the creative scoring shootout Alex Ovechkin slips a wrister past the Western goalie. Jason Spezza in his first all-star game with a neat pass to set up the Caps forward and put the East in front by two, it seems like the West is happy with showing up in Atlanta.
EAST 3 West 1

Sabres Defenseman Brian Campbell just fires a beautiful pass from Evgeni Malkin past Osgood. The East are cruising and out playing the West.
EAST 4 West 1

The prettiest tick-tac-toe goal you will ever see puts the East out to a huge lead. Alex Ovechkin scores his second into a wide open net thanks to his line mates, Martin St Louis and Jason Spezza just toyed with the West defensemen.
EAST 5 West 1

Rick DiPietro the East Goalie is the best player in the first twenty minutes. Goalies do not get a lot of help in these games and DiPietro has been spectacular, making 12 saves on 13 shots. The West better hope that the East spent their goal tickets.

The second period in a nutshell

The first nine minutes were end to end with the West pouring on shots. At the 9:34 mark, Columbus Blue Jacket Rick Nash netted his second of the game. A nice effort that beat Tomas Vokoun who was stellar in the period.
WEST 2 East 5

Defenseman Scott Neidermayer lights the lamp to give the West some hope.
WEST 3 East 5

Here is how great the All-Star game has been, Braves pitcher Tom Glavine TNT basketball announcer and man of great sweaters Craig Sager are just walking around, as is the commissioner Gary Bettman, why am I walking around. That’s for a different blog.

Third Period and Game End

The League could not have asked for a better third period as the two teams combined for seven goals and tremendous skill, speed and enthusiasm for the final 20 minutes.

Hate to be a spoiler but seeing this blog is being sent when the game is finally over, Hurricanes forward Eric Staal was the games MVP with 2 goals and an assist, his second goal being the game tying score.

This could be just the performance Staal needs to kick his career from great player to bona fid star, after the game he said he might give the car he won to his parents in order to stay on Mom and Dad’s good side.

The Western conference started the third period right thanks to first time all-star and Anaheim Duck Ryan Getzlaf who beat Bruin netminder Tim Thomas to pull the West within a goal just 41 seconds into the third, I think we had the makings of a classic.
WEST 4 East 5

The West stormed back to tie the game thanks to Rick Nash and his third goal of the game. The player who showed so much promise a few seasons ago was dominant in almost every shift he was on the ice and on the offensive. Jerome Ignla had a nice pass to help his teammate pull their conference to a tie. Even though the game is in Atlanta in the East the crowd was rowdy to see a good game come together.
WEST 5 East 5

If the home crowd was loud, the roof was ready to come off when hometown favorite Marian Hossa put the East back in front, it might have been 8 years since all-star appearances, but Scott Gomez showed that he belonged with a nifty pass to set up the winger…Manny Legace now in net for the West had little chance.
EAST 6 West 5

The lead was short lived, Calgary defensman and shootout specialist Dion Phaneuf less then a minute later burns Thomas.
WEST 6 East 6

Five minutes later, the West enjoy their second lead of the night on Minnesota Wild star Marion Gaboriik’s marker, the East which had been coasting suddenly have to play with a sense of urgency. 9 minutes left and this might be the best third period in all-star history.
WEST 7 East 6

To quote the great John Forslund, “Hey, hey what do you say… Eric Staal of the Canes ties it on a beauty of a pass from Ilya Kovalchuk!” The East take the momentum back and tie it up, Staal easily slides it past Legace and the East bench goes crazy.
EAST 7 West 7

Former Atlanta Thrasher Marc Savard who was booed in introductions send the fans home happy as the current Bruin takes a pass from Sabre defenseman Brian Campbell and Staal to give the East the lead and the win with 20 seconds left.

Great audio including a one on one with MVP Eric Staal will be available to hear on the Fan’s website shortly.

That’s all from Atlanta; Can’t wait for Montreal!