O&A Board Veteran
Registered: Jan. 01
 | Very impressive come from behind win by the World Team. I havent seen goaltending like that from Nikolai Khabibulin since he shut out the Rangers a couple of nights ago. Nikolai Khabibulin should have been the MVP for his goaltending.
quote:
LOS ANGELES -- Call it the "Revenge of the Goalies." After years of suffering abuse at the hands of the NHL's offensive stars in the annual NHL All-Star Game, the masked men heisted the spotlight Saturday afternoon at the Staples Center by limiting the world's best offensive players to just 13 goals in a 8-5 World All-Star victory.
Thirteen goals may still seem excessive, but consider that last season's All-Star Game saw the goalies fishing the puck out of the net 26 times.
Patrick Roy of the Colorado Avalanche, Jose Theodore of the Montreal Canadiens and Sean Burke of the Phoenix Coyotes were solid for North America. But Dominik Hasek of Detroit, Tommy Salo of Edmonton and Nikolai Khabibulin of the Tampa Bay Lightning turned in a scintillating performances in a game that provided a sneak peak at the kinds of efforts hockey fans can expect when NHL stars compete in the 2002 Winter Olympics in mid-February.
In all, 28 of the All-Star Game participants will be in Salt Lake City playing for teams that have already qualified for the Final Round of the Olympic hockey tournament. Canada led the way with nine players -- Rob Blake, Ed Jovanovski, Chris Pronger, Jarome Iginla, Paul Kariya, Mario Lemieux, Owen Nolan, Joe Sakic and Brendan Shanahan. Russia boasted five All-Stars -- Nikolai Khabibulin, Sergei Gonchar, Sergei Fedorov, Alexei Yashin and Alexei Zhamnov. The United States had four All-Star representatives -- Brian Leetch, Jeremy Roenick, Chris Chelios and Mike York. The Czech Republic also had four All-Stars -- Dominik Hasek, Tomas Kaberle, Patrik Elias and Jaromir Jagr. Sweden also was represented by four players -- Tommy Salo, Nicklas Lidstrom, Markus Naslund and Mats Sundin. Finland had a pair of All-Stars in Sami Kapanen and Teemu Selanne.
The World All-Stars staged a late rally to steal the game away from North America. The North Americans led going into the third period, 5-3, but Columbus' Espen Knutsen scored at 7:52 to make it 5-4.
Fedorov knotted the game with just 3:01 remaining when he sent a blazing slap shot past the glove hand of Burke.
The Canucks' Naslund put the World in front, 6-5, with just 1:43 remaining, taking advantage of a Leetch giveaway and roofing the puck high to Burke's glove.
Chicago's Zhamnov and Carolina's Kapanen put the finishing touched on the game with empty-net goals in the final minute of play.
Lemieux scored a historic goal in the second period, netting the 13th All-Star goal of his career, tying him with Wayne Gretzky for the most career All-Star goals in NHLhistory.
Teemu Selanne and Eric Daze each had a pair of goals and San Jose's Vincent Damphousse had a goal and two assists. Daze also picked up an assist and Bud Light MVP honors for his offensive performance
North America emerged from the first period with a 3-2 lead thanks to goals from Damphousse, Jovanovski and Daze. Selanne countered with two goals for the World.
Damphousse, the veteran San Jose Sharks center, got the scoring off early, backhanding the puck behind Detroit's Hasek just 35 seconds into the contest. For Damphousse, it was his fifth career All-Star Game tally.
North American nearly made it 2-0 with 12:10 left in the first as the Boston Bruins' Joe Thornton hammered a shot off the crossbar, the resulting clang resonating around the arena.
North America did take a 2-0 lead at 10:06 when Jovanovski, the fine defenseman from the Vancouver Canucks, streaked down the slot from his point position, hauled in a slick cross-ice feed from Damphousse and deflected the puck past Hasek.
Selanne, no stranger to scoring in All-Star competition, potted his seventh career All-Star goal at 13:10 when the puck caromed into the slot in front of North America goalie Patrick Roy and Selanne had plenty of room to maneuver despite the efforts of North America's Brendan Shanahan, who got his stick on the shot, but not enough to deflect it away.
Daze, the leading scorer for the Chicago Blackhawks at the All-Star break, mimicked Damphousse at 15:05, opting to use the backhand as he skated across the crease to dent Hasek for the third time in the period.
The World All-Stars came close with 3:40 left in the period when the Los Angeles Kings' Ziggy Palffy came in on Roy, only to have the Colorado Avalanche goalie stack the pads and make the save.
Selanne netted his second of the game at 16:52 of the period to bring the World back within a goal. Selanne took a nice pass from Kapanen and found Selanne in front and he roofed the shot over Roy to finish off a 3-on-2 break.
Selanne nearly had a first period hat trick with 2:31 remaining in the opening period when he came in on a 2-on-0 break, but Roy, who made 12 saves in the period, thwarted the attempt.
Lemieux tied Gretzky's record at 2:02 of the second period on a terrific give-and-go with Paul Kariya of the Mighty ducks of Anaheim. The two Canadian Olympians seemed to have the puck on a rope before Lemieux decided the moment was right and sent a shot past Salo. Lemieux's 13th career All-Star Game goal gave North America a 4-2 lead.
Despite having an early edge in play for most of the second, North America wasn't able to put the game away, especially after Naslund scored at 5:26 to make it a one-goal game again, 4-3. Naslund made a nice deke in the high slot and wristed the puck past Theodore. The Canadiens' goalie came up big moments later, stopping New Jersey's Patrik Elias from in close and then seeing another Elias shot clang off the post moments later.
Daze scored his second goal of the game at 11:33 of the second thanks to a tremendous cross-ice feed from St. Louis Blues defenseman Chris Pronger. Pronger snaked the puck to a breaking Daze in the slot and all the big Chicago forward had to do was redirect it past Salo. Damphousse picked up his second assist and third point of the game on Daze's goal.
With 31.9 seconds left in the second, Elias was denied for the third time as Theodore made a wonderful diving stop on the Devils forward, who was all alone in front and chipped a great pass from Washington's Jaromir Jagr. The stop left Elias shaking his head for the third time in the period.
The World All-Stars had a 17-13 edge in second-period shots
Knutsen, a Norwegian native making his All-Star debut, took home a lasting memory at 7:52 of the third period when he finished off a scramble in front by poking the puck past Phoenix Coyotes goalie Sean Burke to cut North America's lead to 5-4.
Fedorov tied the game 5-5 with 3:01 left in the third period, sending a blazing slap shot past Burke from high in the slot.
NOTES -- Dave Jackson and Don Van Massenhoven were the referees and Andy McElman and Mark Pare were the linesmen. Pare was the senior member of the crew, working his second NHL All-Star Game, while Jackson, Van Massenhoven and McElman were making their All-Star debuts.
Coaches Scotty Bowman and Pat Quinn were facing each other for the second time in the All-Star Game. The two veteran coaches had been behind the bench during the 1981 All-Star Game, which was played at the Kings' old home, the Forum.
The 52nd NHL All-Star Game was broadcast in over 170 countries. The NHL and ESPN International once again produced a world feed geared toward an international audience that emphasized international players, interviews and features. NHK Japan, in concert with NHL/ESPPN International, also produced a high definition feed of the game.
No Islander, Ranger or Devil scored a point but it was worth watching
AOL/AIM - oanda1027fm
This message was edited by Tequila on 2-2-02 @ 7:08 PM |
