East beats the West

In the 2008 edition of the NHL all star game the east beat the west in what turned out to be a very close game. The All Star game as usual was light on defense, and players actually caring, but given the relatively even score towards the end, it was interesting enough.

Rick Nash was probably had the best game of the night, scoring just 12 seconds into the game on the way to a hat-trick. Nash and second period goalie Evgeni Nabokov were the best players for the West. In the end they lost the game, but nobody really cares who wins this thing anyhow.

Alexander Ovechkin was having the most fun of anybody at the all star events this weekend. Of all the players he understood most that the entire weekend was simply about having fun, and that the game was secondary to celebrating hockey and just having a good time. That said he did fairly well in the game and scored two goals.

Buffalo's lone representative did rather well for himself in the game as well. Brian Campbell managed to pick up a goal midway through the first and got assists in the game to earn himself three points, including the assist on Marc Savard's game winner with just twenty seconds left on the clock.

The All Star game MVP (and a truck) went to Eric Stall (perhaps becoming dad's favorite). He earned the award after scoring two goals and an assist in the game. In fact between Ovechkin and Stall the southeast division almost looked respectable.

The NHL all star game brought nothing spectacularly exciting, but was as expected, and is a fun little tradition. The real hockey gets back up and running on Tuesday when the Sabres face Tampa Bay and try to put together their first win streak of the year.