Metropolitan All-Stars get enough in goal to beat Central

[January 28, 2019]  Henrik Lundqvist shut out the Central Division on six saves in the first 10-minute half and the Metropolitan Division went on to a 10-5 win at the NHL All-Star Game in San Jose on Saturday night.

Lundqvist, who won the Save Streak goalie competition during Friday's skills challenge, had saved five of seven shots in his 10 minutes of work in the 7-4 win against the Atlantic Division in the semifinals.

Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Mathew Barzal of the New York Islanders each had two goals and three assists for the Metropolitan Division, which will divide $1 million in prize money.

"It was fun getting out here today. It's too bad, you know, I missed last night with the skills competition and things like that, but to be able to share it with a teammate, Kris Letang, and get out here and compete," Crosby said. "They've obviously got great fans here, showed a lot of support. I heard a few boos, but they're great fans. It was a lot of fun today."

Crosby became the sixth player ever to claim the Conn Smythe Trophy, Hart Trophy and All-Star MVP, joining Joe Sakic, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Bobby Orr and Jean Beliveau.

Braden Holtby of the Washington Capitals replaced Lundqvist for the second half, and Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen of the Colorado Avalanche scored in the first 3 1/2 minutes to cut the deficit to 5-2.

Landeskog scored three goals in the 10-4 semifinal win against the Pacific Division earlier Saturday.

Crosby gave the Metropolitan Division a 6-2 lead with his second goal of the game and fourth of the day at 4:02 into the second half.

Ryan O'Reilly of the St. Louis Blues made it 6-3 just 36 seconds later, but Sebastian Aho of the Carolina Hurricanes and Cam Atkinson of the Columbus Blue Jackets scored eight seconds apart to re-establish the five-goal lead.

Barzal took the first shot of the game and scored 22 seconds in on a wrist shot from the right circle.

Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers got loose on a breakaway and then had time to score the bouncing rebound for a 2-0 lead at 1:53.

Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones was awarded the third penalty shot in All-Star Game history, but he whiffed on his shot against Devan Dubnyk of the Minnesota Wild at 4:09 of the opening half.
 

Shortly after, the Penguins' Letang made it 3-0 at 3:40 when he clanked a wrist shot from the slot off the cross bar, leading an on-ice official to rule it a goal. Crosby scored with 4.1 seconds left to make it 5-0 at the lone intermission.

Lundqvist and Holtby combined to save 16 of 20 shots, lifting the Metropolitan Division to a 7-4 win against the Atlantic Division in the second semifinal.

Rantanen also scored twice in the first semifinal. The Central Division scored seven goals on nine shots against Anaheim Ducks goalie John Gibson in the first 10-minute half against the Pacific Division and never trailed.

"We were laughing, but I think we were laughing because we were so embarrassed that we were playing so bad," said Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty.

--Field Level Media

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