Michigan connections shine in NHL All-Star Game

MiHockeyNow.com’s Stefan Kubus and Brian Kalisher both provide their take on this afternoon’s NHL All-Star Game in Ottawa.

MiHockey staff writer Stefan Kubus’ recap –

It’s hard to argue that the stars were shining most brightly in Ottawa on Sunday, as the 59th NHL All-Star Game played out in front of a sold-out Scotiabank Place crowd.

It was evident from the get-go that these guys were out to have fun.

Detroit’s very own Pavel Datsyuk set up the game’s first goal just about five minutes in. Marian Gaborik of the New York Rangers sent a pass to Datsyuk on the 2-on-1 who returned the puck right back for a beautiful passing play that saw Gaborik beat his teammate Henrik Lundqvist.

For Gaborik’s celebration? What else, but to ‘shoot’ Lundqvist, mocking teammate Artem Anisimov, who caused quite the ruckus by performing that celebration earlier in the season against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

It was all Team Chara early on, taking the 3-0 lead halfway into the first, including another goal from Gaborik.

But hey, this is an All-Star Game, so Team Alfredsson would respond sooner than later.

Jason Spezza of the hometown Ottawa Senators beat Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard, tipping in a Dan Girardi snap shot from the top of the right circle to get Team Alfredsson on the board. The fact that Howard went over ten minutes without allowing a goal is an impressive feat, almost unheard of even.

Scott Hartnell of Philadelphia and John Tavares of the New York Islanders would go on to light the lamp behind Howard for three unanswered Team Alfredsson goals.

Three goals isn’t too shabby of a showing for Howard, especially since he also made some big saves. Then again, almost every save is a big one in this all-offense spectacle. One such save was a penalty shot late in the period on Steven Stamkos’ slick, spin-o-rama move, which, by the way, was only the second penalty shot in All-Star Game history.

In the second period, Gaborik would strike again. This time on another beautiful give-and-go setup from former Red Wing Marian Hossa, giving the New York Rangers sniper the hat trick. Datsyuk recorded the secondary assist on that goal for his second of the game, as Team Chara went up 4-3.

Later in the period, former Plymouth Whalers standout James Neal set up Jason Pominville to help pull Team Alfredsson within back within one.

Easily the highlight of the second period was the spectacular goal by hometown Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson, as he split the defensemen with a great move, then went in alone and beat Carey Price to tie the game at five aside. Just a few shifts later, Alfredsson would strike again on a virtually empty net, finishing off a gorgeous passing play by the Sedin twins.

Former Detroit Honeybaked star Patrick Kane also added a goal to tie the game 6-6 as the second period came to a close.

Flint native Tim Thomas came on for the third period, trying to secure his fourth straight All-Star Game victory, a feat no netminder has ever accomplished. In an effort to keep play moving, Thomas played threw the puck out into the traffic in front of him. Unfortunately for him, Scott Hartnell was waiting to feed Claude Giroux for an easy tap-in goal to tie things up at eight.

Datsyuk added a third assist, hooking up with Hossa for the 9-8 go-ahead goal, much like they did in Detroit.

Former Plymouth Whaler Tyler Seguin helped set up Team Chara assistant captain Joffrey Lupul to put his squad up 12-9 with under five minutes to go.

That 12-9 score would hold up as Tim Thomas stood tall, shutting down numerous quality scoring chances to give Team Chara the victory.

Marian Gaborik was named MVP.

MiHockey staff writer Brian Kalisher’s recap

The 2012 NHL All-Star Game lived up to its billing as a showcase of the NHL’s best offensive firepower packed into one contest.

Team Chara beat Team Alfredsson 12-9 in Ottawa on Sunday afternoon in a game that saw 21 goals and players born and bred in Michigan displaying talent and offensive prowess.

Pavel Datsyuk, Jimmy Howard, Tim Thomas and Tyler Seguin were all on the winning side.

Red Wings fans got the treat of seeing both Datsyuk and Howard start the game.  Datsyuk appeared in his fourth All-Star game, while it was the first for Howard. It may be the case that the players lay off the checks and laugh more than usual on the ice for this type of event, yet the goals scored are some of the best a fan might ever see.

Datsyuk started off the game in typical fashion, stealing a puck and slipping around opposing players.  He made a pretty feed to linemate and All-Star game MVP Marian Gaborik, who then slid one into the Team Alfredsson net for the game’s first tally.  While Team Chara peppered New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist at one end of the ice, Howard did his best to keep the pucks away, including stopping Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos on a penalty-shot opportunity with three minutes remaining in the period.  As most hockey fans know, the All-Star Game can be a nightmare for goaltenders.  In an interview with Pierre McGuire a day before the game, Howard mentioned that he knew plenty of goals would be scored on both sides, but he planned to do the best he could do minimize them for his team.

Another feature of the All-Star game that would intrigue even the most casual fan is the fact that some of the players were mic’d up on the ice.  If the goal-scoring action didn’t keep a fan motivated to watch this game, then sound bites of teammates joking with one another might be of interest.  After all, how often do you get to hear an NHL player say “That’s a nice goal, eh?” after putting one past the goaltender?

Fans got to see a typical All-Star first period – six goals were scored – and the teams hit the locker room for the first intermission tied at three.  Howard made 11 saves during his allotted period and admitted to NBC’s Pierre McGuire during an intermission interview that his stomach “was in knots” prior to the contest.

Montreal’s Carey Price took over in net for Howard in the second period.  He was mic’d up and mentioned to the broadcast team that he “felt like a lamb being led out to slaughter.”  He was obviously paying close attention to the goal-scoring efforts from the first session.

Datsyuk, Hossa and Gaborik didn’t waste any time finding the net in the second, scoring a minute and a half into the frame.  Datsyuk made a nice pass over to Gaborik, who completed a give-and-go with Hossa, and then fired the puck into the twine.

Former Plymouth Whalers standout James Neal – who was a late replacement for Alex Ovechkin in the game – found the score sheet seven minutes into the period, assisting on a Jason Pominville goal.

Late in the frame, Ottawa’s hometown hero and team captain Daniel Alfredsson netted two goals, the second compliments of the Sedin brothers, putting his squad up by a goal.  After a set of long ovations by the fans, the period resumed with more back and forth action – including some tremendous stops by the Kings’ Jonathan Quick at the other end of the ice.

Patrick Kane, who spent time in Detroit as a part of the Honeybaked AAA hockey club, tied the game at six with 90 seconds left in the period.  As in the first intermission, both teams entered the second tied – this time with a total of 12 goals scored in the contest through 40 minutes.

Exemplifying the type of laid-back and fun atmosphere the NHL All-Star game is – even for the players – former Plymouth Whalers star and current Boston Bruins standout Tyler Seguin could be seen singing along on the ice with rapper Drake, who was performing during the second intermission.

Davison native and Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas manned the pipes for Team Chara for the third period.  Despite letting in an early goal, Thomas made impressive saves – and got lucky when a shot deflected off the goal post – using his stick to deflect scoring chances.

Even goaltenders like Thomas can’t always stand the offensive pressure faced in games like this.  Talented Flyers forward Claude Giroux – who is second in the NHL with 55 points – found the net midway through the third, after Logan Couture stole the puck from Thomas while he was trying to keep play moving. Thomas could be seen afterwards with a huge grin on his face, as if he knew there was nothing he could do to change his fate on that goal.

Just like in each of the first two periods, the Datsyuk, Gaborik and Hossa line found the net in the third. With just under eight minutes remaining in regulation, the line gave Team Chara a one goal lead.  Chara himself found the net seconds later making it 10-8 for his team.

Three more goals rounded out the game with Team Chara adding a little bit more offense than Team Alfredsson.  Chara’s squad walked away with the 12-9 victory.