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Savard's late goal gives East thrilling win

Jan 28, 2008 - 3:48 AM By Scott Erskine PA SportsTicker Hockey Editor

ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Marc Savard was a late addition to the Eastern Conference's All-Star roster. It turned out to be a great decision.

Savard of the Boston Bruins scored with 21 seconds remaining in the third period, giving the East an exciting 8-7 victory over the Western Conference in the 56th NHL All-Star Game at Philips Arena on Sunday.

A former member of the hometown Atlanta Thrashers, Savard was named to the East's roster as an injury replacement for another ex-Thrasher - Dany Heatley of the Ottawa Senators. After helping set up the tying goal by Eric Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes earlier in the third, Savard became the hero in his first career All-Star appearance.

Moments after Calgary Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf saved a goal by intercepting a pass near the left goalpost, Staal gained possession of the puck behind the net. The 23-year-old dished to Buffalo Sabres defenseman Brian Campbell, who made a touch pass to Savard for a shot from the slot that got past St. Louis Blues goaltender Manny Legace for the winning tally.

"I just went to the front of the net," Savard said. "I got my first shot on the goal. I kind of flipped it up on the far side.

"It means something for my family more than me. I signed the puck for (my sons) to keep it in their rooms. It means more for them."

Savard was not treated well by the Atlanta fans until netting the tiebreaking goal.

"Every time I come here, I get booed when I touch the puck," he said. "It felt great. All the boos early, and to get the cheers late. It feels good."

Staal, who finished with two goals and an assist, was named the game's Most Valuable Player.

"It's a neat feeling," Staal said. "A little surprised, but I'll take the honor. ... There is a car. I mean, it's not just a trophy, so it's a pretty cool honor and pretty neat thing to be able to receive."

Columbus Blue Jackets star Rick Nash recorded a hat trick and Ryan Getzlaf of the Anaheim Ducks had a goal and an assist for the West.

"I think we all thought he was going to get (the MVP award)," Jason Arnott of the Nashville Predators said of Nash. "He played great. We were all pulling for him. Maybe he got robbed a little."

Staal also thought Nash had a chance to be named MVP.

"I think the fact that we won and I was on the ice on the last goal gave me a good shot at it," Staal said. "But obviously, Nasher with three tucks, I thought that he might have a crack at it. But I guess they wanted someone from the winning side, so I was fortunate enough to be the one called up there."

Nash set an All-Star Game record by tallying 12 seconds into the contest. After stealing the puck from Montreal Canadiens defenseman Andrei Markov, he skated in alone on Rick DiPietro and slipped it past the New York Islanders netminder to give the West a 1-0 lead.

The tally - the third of Nash's All-Star career - broke the mark for the fastest to start a midseason gala set by Ted Lindsay, who scored 19 seconds into the 1950 event.

"That was a good way to start the game," West and Calgary captain Jarome Iginla said. "I heard that was a record. And the next two goals, those are highlight goals on that stage to do them. I was hoping we'd win and he'd get the MVP."

Wearing a microphone for television purposes, DiPietro joked that his hip was killing him after the goal was scored. Prior to the tally, the goaltender - who tweaked the hip during the SuperSkills competition Saturday night - stated he felt fine.

The goal proved to be the only one allowed by DiPietro, who finished his period of work with 12 saves. His best came in the final minutes, when Dallas Stars center Mike Ribeiro's one-timer rang off his mask.

Staal began the East's first-period onslaught 68 seconds after Nash's tally. Alone on the right side of the net, Staal received a pass from Campbell and fired the puck past Detroit Red Wings goalie Chris Osgood for his second career All-Star goal.

Markov atoned for his earlier miscue at 9:43, tapping the puck by Osgood from the doorstep after a backhand feed from the right faceoff circle by Mike Richards of the Philadelphia Flyers.

After Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin made it 3-1 by scoring his first career All-Star goal from the bottom of the right faceoff circle, Campbell netted his first All-Star tally, converting a cross-crease pass from the right side of the net by Pittsburgh Penguins star Evgeni Malkin with 4:50 to go in the first.

Ovechkin capped the scoring in the session less than three minutes later, burying a pass by Martin St. Louis of the Tampa Bay Lightning at 17:49. The goal was the fifth allowed by Osgood, matching his season high.

Osgood also yielded five tallies in a 6-5 shootout loss to the Minnesota Wild on January 10. He finished with 11 saves on Sunday, one day after being heckled while giving up six goals in six minutes during the YoungStars Game.

"He just has to forget about the weekend," said West coach Mike Babcock, who also is Osgood's coach in Detroit. "He'll move on. He'll be fine."

With Tomas Vokoun of the Florida Panthers in net for the East in the second period, the West inched closer.

Nash scored his second goal of the game at 9:34 to close the gap to 5-2. After breaking in alone from the blue line, the former Maurice Richard Trophy winner made a few nifty dekes before sliding a backhander around Vokoun's outstretched left pad.

"We came in and picked it back up," Nash said. "It was fun."

Named as a replacement to the West's roster for the injured Sergei Zubov of Dallas, Anaheim Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer beat Vokoun low to the stick side with a wrister from the slot with 4:52 remaining to halve the deficit.

"It's a goal you're probably not going to score in the regular season," Niedermayer said. "I was just trying to move in. Joe (Thornton) just put it right on my stick and the goalie, I think, was looking for me to pass it."

Vokoun turned aside 18 shots for the East in the second period, which was dominated by the West.

"It's something you expect," Vokoun said. "You get a lot of shots and a lot of chances. This time, I knew what I was doing. I was playing without any pressure. It's not going to be just five or six shots."

Evgeni Nabokov of the San Jose Sharks made eight saves for the West, including a pair of sensational stops on hometown hero Ilya Kovalchuk of the Atlanta Thrashers.

With 63 seconds left in the session, Nabokov made a superb glove save on a quick shot from the inner edge of the left circle by Kovalchuk. In the final seconds, the NHL's second-leading goal-scorer had a breakaway, but Nabokov stacked his pads to thwart the chance.

"He's Russian, but he is good," Kovalchuk said of Nabokov, who actually is a native of Kazakhstan. "He's really good for a small guy. It's tough to beat those kind of guys that play in All-Star Games, and I am going to work on my shot in practice."

"(Kovalchuk) wanted to score," Ovechkin said. "It was pretty funny when Nabokov made the save and he didn't score."

After the game, Nabokov claimed he was lucky to make the glove save on Kovalchuk. The Thrashers' left wing disagreed.

"(The goalies) all say it's lucky, but you need to be good to be lucky," Kovalchuk said. "Sometimes you score with everybody and you're lucky, but you need to be in that kind of position, right time and right place to make those kind of saves."

Getzlaf got the West within a goal just 41 seconds into the third, splitting a pair of defenders in the high slot and lifting the puck over the right shoulder of Boston goalie Tim Thomas.

Nash completed the 15th hat trick in All-Star Game history 75 seconds later to knot the contest at 5-5. On his third breakaway of the night, the 2002 first overall pick telegraphed a backhander all the way and made good, lifting the puck over the glove of Thomas.

"He's obviously going to give you those opportunities," Ducks defenseman Chris Pronger said. "He's a pure goal-scorer, and it's fun seeing players like that and to see his skill. It was nice to see him play well and finish a few."

Local star Marian Hossa of the Thrashers put the East back in front at 4:08, when he converted a cross-slot pass by Scott Gomez of the New York Rangers during a 2-on-1 rush for his first career All-Star goal. But Getzlaf set up Phaneuf on the doorstep for an easy tally 64 seconds afterward to forge another tie.

"We wanted to see the top-end players play, and that's what happened as the game went on," Babcock said. "Obviously, it was a good game. That's what you want to see. You want a high skill level."

Minnesota's Marian Gaborik gave the West its first lead at 10:57, burying a pass from behind the net by Henrik Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks.

Kovalchuk was robbed again by Legace, but shortly thereafter, the Russian made a return pass on a short 2-on-1 to Staal, who netted his second goal of the game to draw the East even at 7-7.

"Anytime you go down the ice with Ilya, he's one of those players that has such a great shot that the goalie kind of knows that," Staal said. "I just moved (the puck) to him right away and tried to get him that goal. He made a great pass back to me, and he kind of fooled both the goalie and the defenseman. I just looked up and saw an empty net."

"I think everybody in the building thinks I'm going to shoot it," Kovalchuk said. "So yeah, it was a pretty nice play. I think fans love those kinds of stuff."

Thomas, who like his Bruins teammate Savard was a late replacement, made 14 saves in recording the victory.

"I talked to him a little bit before the third," Boston captain Zdeno Chara said. "Getting in after two periods, he was cold. I told him to just relax."

"It felt pretty good to come up with the W at the end," Thomas said. "Especially the way that period started out for me, with four goals in about four minutes or whatever it was. So it felt good to get the W at the end."

Legace stopped six of the nine shots he faced.