Crosby, Malkin top East voting

Dec 16, 2008 - 6:17 PM NEW YORK (Ticker) -- The Pittsburgh Penguins' duo of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin is running one-two in the latest voting for the NHL's Eastern Conference All-Star team released Tuesday.

Crosby and Malkin collected 793,995 and 715,663 votes, respectively, putting them within striking distance of Jaromir Jagr's record total of 1,020,736 in 2000.

The Pittsburgh pair also ranks 1-2 in the NHL in scoring. Malkin leads with 49 points, five more than Crosby, who has been held without a goal in seven straight games.

Three Montreal Canadiens - Alex Kovalev, Saku Koivu and Alex Tanguay - trail Malkin and Crosby in voting for the Eastern Conference's starting forwards.

The Canadiens continue to dominate the balloting for the starting defensemen and goaltender, but the races are getting closer.

On defense, Montreal's Andrei Markov (694,906) and Mike Komisarek (634,389) pace the Penguins' tandem of Sergei Gonchar (564,044) and Ryan Whitney (531,327).

Among goaltenders, Carey Price's lead over Pittsburgh's Marc-Andre Fleury (611,692) has been reduced to 68,000. Price has received just under 680,000 votes.

New York Rangers netminder Henrik Lundqvist is a distant third with 120,020 votes.

The All-Star Game will be played in Montreal on January 25, and fan voting continues through January 2.