Monday, February 01, 2016

The 2016 All-Star Game Recap

The overall weekend in Nashville had to be considered a pretty big success, as the engagement of the fans and the players was at an all-time high... or at least a high that anyone in this generation can possibly remember.  The All-Star weekend had a little bit for everybody, including warm & fuzzy feelings for those hard up to feel those, country music for those twangers out there and then for the rest of us, it had some pretty darn good hockey.

It was definitely one of the first All-Star weekends, in recent memory, where the Skills Competition on Saturday was overshadowed by any of the action on Sunday, but the 3-on-3 mini-games was a huge hit, building upon a pretty decent idea, which has kept a few more points in the hockey pool this year, moving overtime to a straight 3-on-3 competition in the regular season.  It was two 10-minute halves in each of the three mini-games and there was actually a medium scoring game, a high scoring game and then, when it came down to the $1 million prize at the end, the defense was on and the goaltending was great.

The Eastern Conference game, between the Atlantic and Metropolitan Divisions was a decent game to start off the proceedings, as the overall pace of the game was definitely positive and there was a great combination of skill among the skaters and some decent stops from the goaltending.  The Atlantic Division, led by captain Jaromir Jagr, came away as 4-3 winners in the game.

The Western Conference semi was a little bit more exciting, with all kinds of back-and-forth scoring, as the Central and Pacific Divisions came out swinging and it turned out to be quite the entertaining affair.  With 15 goals in the game, there was no shortage of excitement around each team's net and there were still some pretty good saves, considering.  The Cinderella story, Pacific Division captain, John Scott's team came away as 9-6 winners.

And yes, the two winning teams tightened it right up, with prize money and some pride on the line, as the goaltending performance between Jonathan Quick and John Gibson, helped lead the way for the Pacific Division to take a 1-0 win.  Gibson, the goalie of record for both wins for the Pacific, took top honours for points in the game, thanks to an assist in the second half of the first game, helping him to 5 points in the All-Star festivities.

Player Name Team Pos GP G A PIM MIN W SO P Draft
John Gibson PAC G 2 0 1 0 20 2 0 5 Clayton Corley
Daniel Sedin PAC F 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 4 John Preston
Brent Burns PAC D 2 0 4 0 0 0 0 4 Dale Bradley
Taylor Hall PAC F 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 3 Stacey Campbell
James Neal CEN F 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 3 Wes Moroz
Corey Perry PAC F 2 1 2 0 0 0 0 3 Allan Scott
Tyler Seguin CEN F 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 3 Cindy Saskiw
Ben Bishop ATL G 2 0 1 0 18 1 0 3 Allan Scott
Dylan Larkin ATL F 2 0 3 0 0 0 0 3 Grant Saskiw
John Scott PAC F 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 N/A
Drew Doughty PAC D 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 Derek Wilton
Johnny Gaudreau PAC F 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 Brian Towers
Joe Pavelski PAC F 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 Eric Wheeler
Dustin Byfuglien CEN D 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 Eric Wheeler
Evgeni Malkin MET F 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 Wes Moroz
Matt Duchene CEN F 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 Jeremy Dieser
Vladimir Tarasenko CEN F 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 Tony Dourado
Shea Weber CEN D 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 Stacey McDonald
Aaron Ekblad ATL D 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 Derek Wilton
Jaromir Jagr ATL F 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 John Preston
Erik Karlsson ATL D 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 Clayton Corley
P.K. Subban ATL D 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 Dale Bradley
Roman Josi CEN D 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 Scott Gilmore
Patrick Kane CEN F 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 John Swan
Evgeny Kuznetsov MET F 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 Brian Towers
Kris Letang MET D 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 Jeremy Dieser
Mark Giordano PAC D 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 Derek & Dan
Leo Komarov ATL F 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 Troy Berkley
Ryan O'Reilly ATL F 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 Grant Saskiw
Pekka Rinne CEN G 1 0 1 1 10 0 0 1 Ryan Miller
Cory Schneider MET G 1 0 1 0 9 0 0 1 Troy Berkley
Jamie Benn CEN F 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 Brian Towers
Justin Faulk MET D 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 Stuart Greenley
Brandon Saad MET F 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 Ryan Miller
Roberto Luongo ATL G 2 0 0 0 20 0 0 0 Kristy & Don
Jonathan Quick PAC G 2 0 0 0 20 0 0 0 Brenda & Seward
Patrice Bergeron ATL F 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Neil Buysman
Steven Stamkos ATL F 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Wes Moroz
Braden Holtby MET G 1 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 Jeremy Dieser
Devan Dubnyk CEN G 1 0 0 0 8 0 0 0 Derek Wilton
Nicklas Backstrom MET F 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Troy Berkley
Claude Giroux MET F 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Benson Greenley
Ryan McDonagh MET D 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Derek Wilton
John Tavares MET F 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Eric Wheeler

Two teams finished atop the All-Star Game unofficial hockey pool, as Clayton and Allan each finished with 6 points, so it came down to the tie-breakers... goals, where they each had 1 goal each, and then wins, where Clayton had a couple, thanks to Gibson, so he would be the winner of the All-Star Game unofficial pool, if it were a real thing and there were prizes on the line.

Convenient, right?  Well, that's the way it goes and always has been... don't look at me like that!

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