Photo credit: Christopher Hanewinckel, USA TODAY Sports
~By Pearl Allison Lo
~Starting with changes such as the new 3-on-3 format and three individual games, the 2016 NHL All-Star Game, which was hosted in Nashville for the first time, had a little bit of everything.
With 3-on-3 hockey during overtime being implemented during the 2015-2016 regular season, 3-on-3 was not 100% new for some players. However, another first was 3-on-3 for 20 minutes.
Highlights included the unlikely All Star becoming MVP even more deservedly so, a penalty was involved for the first time since 2009, there was a fight/hit, a coach’s challenge and a shutout. With the Eastern Conference winning the Skills Competition, they got to decide the schedule and played in the first game. Four different goalies had assists, two in each semifinal games. Each semifinal game had a player with three assists.
The first semifinal, Metropolitan versus Atlantic, was a come from behind victory in the sense that the Metropolitan never trailed until the very end. Dylan Larkin, the fastest skater ever in the Skills Competition, had three assists. Aaron Ekblad, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang led with five shots apiece. Letang also had the only block.
In the beginning, there was a lost stick. Letang scored first shortside at 1:01, after a missed shot by the Atlantic on the other end, aided by Malkin. Erik Karlsson tied the game at 3:47, helped by Larkin. Evgeny Kuznetsov made it 2-1 at 4:16, assisted by Justin Faulk as goalie Roberto Luongo dove. Regular season teammate Jaromi Jagr then scored at 9:22, Larkin with his second assist. Each team had 10 shots apiece in the first half.
Malkin started the second half with a 25 second goal on the half’s first shot, beginning with a breakaway and finishing with a spin, aided by Brandon Saad and goalie Cory Schneider. At 2:52, Ekblad received a pass from Ryan O’Reilly, as he scored for the Atlantic behind goalie Braden Holtby. Leo Komarov also helped. P.K. Subban ended up scoring the game winner at 5:22. He had just had a breakaway the last time in front of Holtby. Maybe it was the Amy Grant back rubs. Subban was assisted by Larkin and Ben Bishop. Each team had 12 shots apiece in the second, for a total of 22-22.
After the first two scores, the second semifinal looked like it would be slower than the first game, but it had a few surprises up its sleeves. Corey Perry and Daniel Sedin each had four shots.
James Neal scored just 26 seconds in, aided by Matt Duchene and Shea Weber. 21 seconds later, Pacific captain John Scott scored during his first time playing 3 on-3. He was helped by Brent Burns. An illegal play by goalie Pekka Rinne led to a 4-on-3 power play. Joe Pavelski was there to capitalize at 5:26, assisted by Sedin and Perry. At 8:01, Neal re-tied the game. He was the first to score multiple goals and the only one on Team Central. Right after, on the other end, Johnny Gaudreau scored against Neal’s regular season teammate Rinne. Gaudreau was assisted by Mark Giordano and Taylor Hall. With 33 seconds left in the first half, Patrick Kane re-tied the game with the half’s sixth goal. He was aided by Jamie Benn and Rinne. After the goal, Kane had a friendly tussle with Scott.
In the second half, things sped up even more. John Gibson became the fourth goalie to assist when he helped Sedin at 1:49 and the teams were off to the races. At 3:27, Scott got his second goal for the first two goal lead with another assist by Burns. Then at 4:04, Taylor Hall made it 6-3, aided by Gaudreau. At 4:28, Sedin scored a wide open goal (which would be the game winner), helped by Perry and Drew Doughty to build a Pacific four goal lead. However, right on the other end, Dustin Byfuglien scored the fastest consecutive goal in the game 8 seconds later, with Tyler Seguin and Vladimir Tarasenko for the Central. Seguin then followed, with Byfuglien and Tarasenko to make it 7-5. Perhaps the most crucial save was when Gibson then made a full leg save against another Seguin attempt. The Pacific followed with two more goals. At 7:44, Hall scored with Burns and at 8:45, Doughty scored on an empty net with Pavelski. Roman Josi scored the ninth goal of the second half and the last of the semifinals at 8:53, with Seguin and Neal. The Central had 16 to 5 faceoff wins. The Pacific had 8-2 takeaways.
The final game featured Team Atlantic versus Team Pacific, which ended up a goalie showcase. Shots were 12-10 in favor of the Pacific first half.
Perry scored at 3:38, from Sedin and Burns for the first goal. There was a possible hook on Subban. Perry then scored again with 2:53 left. Bishop was hit by Hall, however, so the goal went under review. Interference was the call. After Bishop was pulled, it led to the game’s first timeout. Chris Sutter’s pep talk before the final ended up being a winner the second time around. After the win, John Scott was hoisted on the shoulders of his teammates. The Pacific only had four shots the second half. The Atlantic won faceoffs 7-3.
Game notes: Notable absences due to injury consisted of Chicago Blackhawks’ Jonathan Toews, who was replaced by Neal and Washington Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin, who and was replaced by John Tavares as the Metropolitan Division captain and in the game by Kuznetsov . Jagr was the captain for the Atlantic and NHL points leader Kane was the captain for the Central. For the San Jose Sharks, former Shark Scott was named MVP, current San Jose teammates Joe Pavelski (his first All-Star game) had a final game-high five shots and Brent Burns (his second) had three assists in the second semifinal game. Saturday, it was announced that next year’s All-Star game will be held at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
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