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East Comes Through In The End

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 28, 2008

ATLANTA - Ooohs and ahhhs typically echo throughout arenas on NHL All-Star night. They come from the numerous dipsy-dos, spin-o-ramas, between-the-leg passes and puck-snatching saves that often occur with so much talent and so little hitting on display in the league's showcase of its top players.

But Sunday at Philips Arena, there was real tension. Pride was on the line and fans sat on the edge of their seats in the final minutes of the 56th All-Star Game, which came within 21 seconds of heading to overtime. But it was former Atlanta Thrasher Marc Savard who returned to produce the game-winner to end an entertaining finish and give the Eastern Conference an 8-7 victory.

"It was great," said Lightning center Vinny Lecavalier, who recorded an assist for his second career All-Star point. "They came back on us there in the third and really made it a game. It was exciting in the third. I think for the last six or seven minutes, I think we were kind of skating harder, more high-tempo and it made it interesting."

Making an All-Star Game interesting is often a tough task. The game, while entertaining, is not the greatest example of what true hockey is all about. But having a game in which one team rallies from a 5-1 deficit after one period to tie the game two minutes in the third and take the lead on a Marian Gaborik goal with 9:03 left actually gave the game some drama.

"The score was close and the intensity picked up in the last 10 minutes, so it was good," said Tampa Bay forward Marty St. Louis, who had a pair of assists to become the second player in franchise history to record a multipoint night in an All-Star Game. "Closer games are always fun."

The game became so close that the idea of setting up a neutral zone trap for the final 30 seconds of the game was mockingly approached when the line of Jason Spezza, Alex Ovechkin and St. Louis was sent over the boards to protect the lead after Savard scored.

"I was talking to Marty and he said that he wished they played the trap sometimes because they played so high energy all the time. So I told him there were 20 seconds left, he could trap now," Ottawa coach John Paddock joked.

Spezza laughed when discussing the strategy for the final shift.

"The end, our line gets put on in the final 30 seconds and we don't want to get scored against, so we said if the West won the draw, we were going into the trap," he said. "It didn't matter because we wanted to make sure we were going to win and not have the game go into overtime."

St. Louis, who played the whole game on the line with Spezza and Ovechkin, recorded both his assists in the first period on a pair of Ovechkin goals. The first came when he sent a long pass up the ice to Spezza, resulting in a two-on-one at 13:35. St. Louis' second assist came when he was at the side of the net and took a pass from Spezza and fed an open Ovechkin in the crease for an easy redirect at 17:49.

"Marty is a guy that I really respect with how hard he plays and it's fun to play with him at some point," Spezza said. "We knew each other a little bit from some Team Canada stuff, so it made it a little more exciting and more special."

Lecavalier, who also had an assist on St. Louis' only All-Star goal in last year's game, had a secondary assist on Brian Campbell's goal, which came between the two goals in which St. Louis recorded assists.

"When a team is up 5-1 and the other team comes back, after the second period we knew we had to pick it up a little bit, and we did, both teams did," Lecavalier said. "It was a great game, it was fun. I think it was interesting for the fans to have a close game like that."

Reporter Erik Erlendsson can be reached at (813) 259-7835 or eerlendsson@tampatrib.com.

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