NHL All Star Game 2009: Far-Off Predictions and Guesses

NHL All Star Game 2009: Far-Off Predictions and Guesses

So pretty much what I'm going to do here is create a simulated (in my brain) NHL 2009 All Star Game and see how close I can get. I'm not going to do it by each second, but rather by each 30 seconds (example: 19:00, 18:30, 18:00, etc.). Game times are measured in how much time would be left in the period and times in parentheses are official scoring time (which is how much time has elapsed in the period).

First Period

18:30 (1:30)- GOAL, Jeff Carter (A: Kovalev) - East 1, West 0

Jeff Carter recieves a magnificent breakaway pass from Malkin and beats Giguere easily with a wrist shot.

13:00 (7:00) - GOAL, Alex Ovechkin (A: Parise) - East 2, West 0

Parise's shot banks off the goalpost, but Ovechkin is there for the rebound and the East jumps out to a 2-0 lead.

9:30 (10:30) - GOAL, Martin St. Louis (A: Vanek, Staal) - East 3, West 0

A breakout three-on-one results in a great pass from Staal to Vanek, who's shot is stopped but floats out in front of the goalmouth. St. Louis is there to bang it into the nearly empty net.

6:00 (14:00) - GOAL, Jarome Iginla (Powerplay) (A: Souray, Boyle) - East 3, West 1

A power play for West defensemen Sheldon Souray and Dan Boyle ends up with a hard slapper from Souray that is awkwardly stopped by Price—but Iginla gets the juicy rebound into the goal to get the West on the board.

0:30 (19:30) - GOAL, Alex Kovalev (Unassisted) - East 4, West 1

Kovalev's unassisted breakaway with less than a minute remaining gives the Eastern Conference a three-goal lead at the first intermission.

Second Period

15:30 (4:30) - GOAL, Zdeno Chara (A: Bouwmeester, Savard) - East 5, West 1

An even-strength cycle between the tired line of forwards and second line of defensemen results in a rocketing slap shot that bangs home for Chara.

8:30 (11:30) - GOAL, Patrick Kane (Shorthanded) (A: Toews, Getzlaf) - East 5, West 2

Teammates Toews and Kane team up to give the West new hope in the game.

5:00 (15:00) - GOAL, Ilya Kovalchuk (A: Markov, Heatley) - East 6, West 2

Kovalchuk and Co. team up to quickly erase the West's trace of life.

1:30 (18:30) - GOAL, Alexander Ovechkin (A: Savard) - East 7, West 2

Later, Ovechkin—along with slick passer Marc Savard—notches his second goal to give the East a commanding 7-2 lead at the second break.

Third Period

19:30 (0:30) - GOAL, Patrick Marleau (A: Thornton, Tkachuk) - East 7, West 3

A fairly unnoticed goal turns out to be the spark the West needs to get back into the game.

19:00 (1:00) - GOAL, Rick Nash (Unassisted) - East 7, West 4

Nash's breakaway tricks cut the East's lead to three, and make the fans get a little more interested in the result.

16:30 (3:30) - GOAL, Shea Weber (Powerplay) (A: Getzlaf, Robidas) - East 7, West 5

Shea Weber's hard slap shot, as seen in the "Hardest Shot" competition Saturday, cuts the Eastern Conference's lead to a measly two goals.

10:00 (10:00) - GOAL, Patrick Kane (A: Toews) - East 7, West 6

A rare two-on-none breakout gives the West a great chance to cap off a fantastic comeback to win the All Star Game 2009.

5:30 (14:30) - GOAL, Alexander Ovechkin (A: Savard, Komisarek) - East 8, West 6

Alexander Ovechkin gets a hat trick and nearly ruins the West's comeback hopes.

2:00 (18:00) - GOAL, Eric Staal (A: Vanek, Kaberle) - East 9, West 6

Eric Staal, last year's All Star Game MVP, scores a goal with two minutes remaining in regulation to put the game away.

0:30 (19:30) - GOAL, Patrick Kane (Unassisted) - East 9, West 7

A completely meaningless breakaway goal for Kane is just for the record books.

FINAL SCORE: Eastern Conference 9, Western Conference 7

Three Stars

1. Alexander Ovechkin (3 goals, 0 assists, game winning goal)
2. Marc Savard (0 goals, 3 assists)
3. Alex Kovalev (1 goal, 1 assist)

Eastern Conference Statistics

• Jeff Carter (1 goal, 0 assists)
• Alex Kovalev (1 goals, 1 assist)
• Ilya Kovalchuk (1 goal, 0 assists)
• Dany Heatley (0 goals, 1 assist)
• Alexander Ovechkin (3 goals, 0 assists)
• Zach Parise (0 goals, 1 assist)
• Marc Savard (0 goals, 3 assists)
• Tomas Vanek (0 goals, 2 assists)
• Martin St. Louis (1 goal, 0 assists)
• Eric Staal (1 goal, 1 assists)
• Zdeno Chara (1 goal, 0 assists)
• Jay Bouwmeester (0 goals, 1 assist)
• Andrei Markov (0 goals, 1 assist)
• Mike Komisarek (0 goals, 1 assist)
• Tomas Kaberle (0 goals, 1 assist)