The stars were out in full force in St. Louis on Saturday night for the NHL All-Star game.
The NHL All-Star game is unlike any other in the major sports. Normally, the games are broken up into two teams, one from each conference. In the NBA, it’s East vs. West. In the NFL, it’s AFC vs. NFC. In the MLB, it’s American League vs. National League. However, in the NHL each division (Atlantic, Metropolitan, Central, Pacific) gets their own team.
The NHL All-Star game works in a tournament format with slight changes from normal games. The teams only play three-on-three as opposed to the standard five-on-five. There are only two periods instead of the three for regular games and the period lengths are shortened to 10 minutes instead of the usual 20 minutes.
The Eastern conference divisions (Metropolitan and Atlantic) face each other for a chance to play against the winner of the Western conference divisions (Central and Pacific) matchup. The Metropolitan division are the defending champs and have won two of the last three All-Star games.
Metropolitan vs. Atlantic
The scoring started quick and never let up. David Pasternak of the Boston Bruins started off the scoring, by getting his first of three goals just 26 seconds into the first period for the Atlantic Division. This goal was quickly followed by Shea Weber’s (Montreal Canadiens) goal just 23 seconds later to extend the Atlantic’s lead to 2-0. The Metropolitan Division would respond in a huge way. They scored four straight goals in a span of less than four minutes, with two of the goals coming from Washington Capitals teammates TJ Oshie and John Carlson. The Atlantic Division would tact on two more goals to tie the game 4-4 heading to the intermission. The second period was all Atlantic as they went on to outscore the Metro Division 5-1 to win the matchup 9-5. With the help of an empty net goal with just 32 seconds left in the game, Anthony Duclair (Ottawa Senators) joined Pasternak with a hat trick of his own.
Pacific vs. Central
The Pacific Division has won three of the last four matchups against the Central Division heading into this year’s All-Star game. The hometown goalie, Jordan Binnington, didn’t get off to the start he was hoping for by playing in St. Louis. The Central Division found themselves in an early hole as the Pacific Division was able to jump out to a 3-0 lead thanks to goals by Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks), Leon Draisaitl (Edmonton Oilers) and Matthew Tkachuk (Calgary Flames). The Central Division would fire back with three goals of their own by David Perron (St Louis Blues), Patrick Kane (Chicago Blackhawks) and Mark Scheifele (Winnipeg Jets) to tie the game 3-3. Each team would add another goal and head to the intermission tied 4-4. Much like the Metro and Atlantic game, this game was very one-sided in the second period. The Pacific Division outscored the Central Division 6-1. Five of the six goals for the Pacific Division came from Hertl and Draisaitl as each player finished with a hat trick. Hertl would go on to score four goals in the game. The Pacific Division won the matchup by a score of 10-5 and would be advancing to the Championship game against the Atlantic Division, a rematch of the 2018 Championship game when the Pacific Division won 5-2.
Atlantic vs. Pacific
This was the battle of the coasts…or oceans…depends how you want to look at it. It didn’t take long for the scoring to open up as Victor Hedman (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Jonathan Huberdeau (Florida Panthers) both scored for the Atlantic Division less than 90 seconds into the championship game. Max Pacioretty (Vegas Golden Knights) scored the only goal for the Pacific Division in the first period. The game went to intermission with the Atlantic Division leading 3-1. Much like the previous game, this game was very one-sided in the second period. The Pacific Division would go on to outscore the Atlantic Division 4-1, with two goals by Elias Pettersson (Vancouver Canucks) and a goal by Tomas Hertl, to give him a tournament high five total goals. The Pacific Division went on to win the game, 5-4, and the tournament. David Pasternak won the MVP. He finished with four goals and two assists.
The regular season resumes play on Monday, January 27, with six games on the schedule:
Washington Capitals @ Montreal Canadiens
New Jersey Devils @ Ottawa Senators
Toronto Maple Leafs @ Nashville Predators
Tampa Bay Lightning @ Dallas Stars
St Louis Blues @ Vancouver Canucks
Anaheim Ducks @ San Jose Sharks
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