Stamkos selected as Lightning's lone All-Star

Tampa Bay Lightning center Steven Stamkos will be on his own, so to speak, at this year's NHL All-Star Game in Ottawa on Jan. 29.

Stamkos, the league's leading scorer, was chosen as the lone Lightning player on Thursday as one of the 36 players named to participate in All-Star weekend.

This is the second consecutive season in which Stamkos has been named to the All-Star team and the third time in four seasons he will participate in All-Star weekend. The 21-year-old participated in the YoungStars game in 2009 while there was no All-Star Game in 2010 due to the league's participation in the Winter Olympics.

"It's an honor," Stamkos said before Thursday's game. "Last year was an unbelievable experience being my first All-Star game, and then the experience in Montreal (2009) being a rookie there. Now this being the second one, it's just as special. It's nice to go there once but you want to go there every single year, and I'm really looking forward to it."

Stamkos entered Thursday's game against the Carolina Hurricanes leading the league with 29 goals – five more than New York Rangers' winger Marian Gaborik – and is tied for fourth overall with 47 points.

Stamkos has scored goals in six of the past seven games, including a hat trick against Carolina on New Year's Eve, to race into the lead in goals.

This is the first time since the 2001-02 All-Star Game in which the Lightning will not have at least two players participating in the event (Nikolai Khabibulin). It will also be the first time since then that neither Marty St. Louis (alternate captain last season) nor Vinny Lecavalier (captain in 2008) were named to the All-Star Game.

Fan votes determined the top six players – three forwards, two defenseman and one goaltender – while the league's hockey operations decided the remaining 36 players along with 12 rookies.

The top six were Ottawa defenseman Erik Karlsson, who led all vote-getters, and forwards Daniel Alfredsson, Milan Michalek and Jason Spezza, along with Toronto defenseman Dion Phaneuf and Boston goalie Tim Thomas.

After captains and alternate captains are named, the rosters will be picked at the 2012 NHL All-Star Player Fantasy Draft on Jan. 26.

Here are the 36 additional All-Stars and 12 rookies who will participate in All-Star weekend:

Forwards

Corey Perry, Anaheim Ducks

Tyler Seguin, Boston Bruins

Jason Pominville, Buffalo Sabres

Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames

Marian Hossa, Chicago Blackhawks

Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks

Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks

Jamie Benn, Dallas Stars

Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings

Mikko Koivu, Minnesota Wild

John Tavares, New York Islanders

Marian Gaborik, New York Rangers

Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers

Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins

Logan Couture, San Jose Sharks

Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning

Phil Kessel, Toronto Maple Leafs

Joffrey Lupul, Toronto Maple Leafs

Daniel Sedin, Vancouver Canucks

Henrik Sedin, Vancouver Canucks

Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals

Defensemen

Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins

Brian Campbell, Florida Panthers

Ryan Suter, Nashville Predators

Shea Weber, Nashville Predators

Dan Girardi, New York Rangers

Kimmo Timonen, Philadelphia Flyers

Keith Yandle, Phoenix Coyotes

Alex Edler, Vancouver Canucks

Dennis Wideman, Washington Capitals

Dustin Byfuglien, Winnipeg Jets

Goaltenders

Jimmy Howard, Detroit Red Wings

Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings

Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens

Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers

Brian Elliott, St. Louis Blues

Rookies

Luke Adam, Buffalo Sabres

Justin Faulk, Carolina Hurricanes

Gabriel Landeskog, Colorado Avalanche

Ryan Johansen, Columbus Blue Jackets

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Edmonton Oilers

Craig Smith, Nashville Predators

Adam Henrique, New Jersey Devils

Adam Larsson, New Jersey Devils

Colin Greening, Ottawa Senators

Sean Couturier, Philadelphia Flyers

Matt Read, Philadelphia Flyers

Cody Hodgson, Vancouver Canucks