NHL All-Star Game: Flyers' Scott Hartnell to Replace Chicago's Jonathan Toews

With his father in attendance, Philadelphia Flyers forward Scott Hartnell had probably the best consecutive games of his career.

Hartnell, 29, registered five goals in the two games, including a natural hat-trick against the Boston Bruins, good for being named one of the NHL's Three Stars of the Week.

Then, on Tuesday, he mysteriously received a call from league disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan. As per Flyers beat writer Sam Carchidi via Twitter, Hartnell said he was worried about getting that call. With all the suspensions and fines this season, you can't really blame him either.

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"Hartnell said Shanahan called and LW (left wing) was worried he was being disciplined. Instead, he told him he was added to All-Star team. #Flyers"

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Famous for his curly red locks and agitating style of play, Hartnell has taken his game to another level this season playing alongside future Hall-of-Famer Jaromir Jagr and budding superstar Claude Giroux. A very well-deserved invitation for Hartnell, who leads Philadelphia with 25 goals and the league in power-play goals with 13.

Hartnell needs just five more goals to match his personal mark of 30, set back in 2008-09 with the Flyers. With 35 games to go, Hartnell is on pace for 43 goals and 76 points, both career highs that are certainly attainable, but I don't expect the goal production to continue at such a rapid rate. Hartnell will certainly set a career high, but probably more around the 35-40 range. 

This will be Hartnell's first ever All-Star appearance, and what better time than now? Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews was placed on injured reserve Tuesday due to an upper-body injury, freeing up the spot for Hartnell.

Via Twitter, teammates Jakub Voracek and Max Talbot had nothing but praise for Hartnell receiving the bid:

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"@Hartsy19 congrats to hartsy!deserve it!!!" - @jachobe

"@Hartsy19 congrats for the all star nomination! #welldeserved" - @max25talbot

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