CBSSports.co Nicklas Lidstrom limited his All-Star losses to a flip of the puck and the skills competition.
The game was all his.
Unfazed by having to pick second in the inaugural NHL All-Star fantasy draft, the Detroit Red Wings defensem though this was the first one named after him.
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The four-time Stanley Cup champion and six-time winner of the Norris Trophy, given to the leagues top defenseman, was a plus-7 as he captained Team Lidstrom to an 11-10 victory over Team Staal in the All-Star game on Sunday night.
“Its a matter of being on the ice at the right moments, I guess,” the understated Lidstrom said of his performance. “They won the skills [Saturday], so I think we kind of came out even.”
Eric Staal had the No. 1 pick in the fantasy draft on Friday, the unconditional support of his hometown Carolina Hurricanes fans behind him, and a four-goal lead in the first period.
Still, it wasnt enough to beat one of the NHLs greatest winners.
“Pretty good night for Nicklas Lidstrom,” Staal said. “Its fun to get to know him a little bit more … just doing this whole experience for the first time with him. He played a great game as you can tell by the stats.”
Danny Briere, Jonathan Toews, and Martin St. Louis scored during a four-minute span of the third period to lift Team Lidstrom.
Another Team Lidstrom defenseman, Shea Weber of Nashville, had four assists and was plus-6, and Dallas forward Loui Eriksson had two goals and two assists. Bostons Tim Thomas stopped 11-of-15 shots in the third period and became the first goalie to earn the win in three consecutive All-Star games.
Maybe Staals pick of Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward with the No. 1 selection in the fantasy draft wasnt such a good idea, after all. Tampa Bays Steven Stamkos, the league leader with 38 goals, scored the one that made it 6-6 in the second.
Ward could hardly be blamed for the four goals he gave up in the first. Pittsburghs Marc-Andre Fleury also allowed four in the opening 20 minutes of a typically defenseless All-Star game. The 21 total goals tied for fourth most in All-Star history.
“I thought I was doing pretty good the first 10 minutes,” Ward said. “It was like, Whoa, this aint so bad, and boom, four goals against.”
One consolation for the Team Staal: Chicagos Patrick Sharp claimed MVP honors in a losing cause after he posted a goal and two assists.
With the team in white named after Staal, the Carolina fans decked out in red hardly seemed to care that Sidney Crosby and his Pittsburgh Penguins teammate Evgeni Malkin were missing because of injuries.
Staals club had a 4-0 lead, that was gone before the first intermission, and an 8-7 edge after Kris Letangs second goal early in the third.
Then Lidstroms club staged its second comeback and grabbed a late lead – only to have Team Staal attempt a rally.
After Rick Nash cut it to 10-9 with 4:49 remaining, Eriksson sealed it by scoring into an empty net at 18:49. That insurance was necessary because Staal gave the RBC Center one more reason to yell when he made it 11-10 with his fourth career All-Star goal with 34 seconds remaining.
Philadelphias Briere got one of the injury replacement spots and made the most of it. Briere gave Team Lidstrom a 7-6 lead with 4:29 left in the second and tied it 8-8 at 9:57 into the final period with his third career All-Star goal.
That brought a smile to Peter Laviolette, a co-coach of Team Lidstrom who now runs the Philadelphia Flyers. Laviolette coached the Hurricanes to the 2006 Stanley Cup title. Local fans remembered him and that special season well Sunday and greeted his introduction with a huge ovation.
Briere gave Team Lidstrom its first lead, not only of the game but of the entire weekend when he took a pass in the left circle and lifted a shot over Montreals Carey Price in the second. Team Lidstrom was beaten 33-22 in wire-to-wire fashion in the skills competition.
Early in the second it appeared that Anaheims Jonas Hiller was in for the same anguish as the other goalies. Sharp, who had two assists in the first period, finished things himself 1:18 in when he took a pass from Philadelphias Claude Giroux in the left circle and snapped in a shot.
Letang pushed Team Staals lead to 6-4 at 6:10 by ripping a shot off the post and in. That would be the final blemish on Hillers ultimately impressive performance.
Hiller made acrobatic moves in the final five minutes of the second to deny 18-year-old Hurricanes forward Jeff Skinner and Columbus Nash. Hiller made his MVP pitch by finishing with 15 saves on 17 shots.
Staal and Skinner, the NHLs youngest All-Star ever, were often fe as fans alternately chanted their names.
With the arena still dark during the pregame buildup, the crowd belted out its first chant of, “Lets Go Staal.” When the lights came up, a snowy pond scene was revealed and children throwing your sticks in the middle and having a captain pick them out one by one.
One selection drew longtime Hurricanes fans favorite Rod BrindAmour out from the shadows. The next pick brought out Hall of Famer Ron Francis, who along with BrindAmour was a Carolina captain.
The next two choices were Lidstrom and Staal, who conducted the unique draft when they split up 36 All-Stars.
That event was the highlight of the weekend. It brought Eric Staals younger brother Marc, a Rangers defenseman, onto his team for the first time in their lives, but it split up identical twins Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks for the first time, too.
Alex Ovechkin had his own stick-throwing ceremony in the third period when he tossed his in the path of Team Lidstroms Matt Duchene as the Colorado forward raced in on a break given to Duchene against New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who made the stop.
Ovechkin also scored a goal.
Staals top choice of Ward looked more genius than sentimental early on when the players in white jumped out to a 4-0 lead, with Ward standing tall behind them. Team Staal scored all its goals on the first nine shots against Fleury, while Ward was perfect on the first four he faced.
“We started to think, Gee, I hope it wont continue,” Lidstrom said. “Once we got the first one, we started playing better, too. It wasnt the start we wanted, but it was the end we wanted.”
The tide turned when Lidstroms team connected for four goals on its final 10 shots of the first. Fleury went 5-for-5 to close out the period.
Notes
Francis No. 10 has been retired by the Hurricanes. BrindAmours No. 17 will be raised to the rafters later this season. Six sets of All-Star teammates wore identical numbers, including the goalie tandem of Ward and Lundqvist, who both donned their familiar No. 30. Skinner at 18 years, 259 days, broke Steve Yzermans mark of youngest All-Star. Yzerman was 18 years, 267 the day of the 1984 game. Skinner had one assist.
