It wasn't for the faint of heart, as the Western Conference solidified their claim to being the better half with another dominant performance in Chicago.
ALL-STAR GAME LINK: https://beardhockey.live/BEARD-All-Star-Game-2022.html
Original Team Rosters Link: https://www.beardhockey.com/post/2021-22-beard-hockey-all-star-selections
Teuvo Teravainen, recently traded from Anaheim to St. Louis, got the party started just 17 seconds into the game. From there, the rout was on.
The Western Conference All-Stars poured in six goals in the opening period, shelling Hurricanes goaltender Carey Price, on their way to a 9-3 victory in Sunday's BEARD Hockey All-Star game.
David Pastrnak scored two of those six goals and added another in the third period, earning the hat trick and All-Star Game MVP honors. Host city Chicago's John Carlson had three assists, while Anthony Mantha chipped in a goal and two assists for the West.
Teravainen scored twice, while Winnipeg's duo of Brady Tkachuk and Steven Stamkos, along with Anaheim's Matt Duchene and San Jose's Morgan Rielly, each had two points for the West, who never trailed and even netted a power-play goal in the third frame (Florida's Evgeny Kuznetsov got the gate for a delay-of-game over the glass dump out).
Arizona's Pavel Francouz pitched an 11-save shutout, working the third period. Los Angeles' Antti Raanta made 21 saves on 22 shots in the opening period, while Calgary's Linus Ullmark chipped in 15 saves on 17 shots in the second.
"It was fun," said Pastrnak, who won a Mazda MX-5 Miata Roadster with his MVP honors. "We kind of got out to that big lead early and just kept it up. I don't think we played much defense, but our goalies were great."
It wasn't the most pleasurable night for the East, who suffered a second straight year of humiliation (the East was pummeled 19-12 in a wild affair last year). The Islanders' duo of Aleksander Barkov and Patrik Laine had a goal and an assist apiece, while Detroit's Mika Zibanejad chipped in a goal. Price managed 20 saves on 26 shots in the opening period, while New Jersey's Darcy Kuemper (10 saves on 11 shots) and the Red Wings' Juuse Saros (15 saves on 17 shots) fared somewhat better.
Montreal's Aaron Ekblad and Pittsburgh's Cale Makar were a combined minus-10 on the evening.
"Not how we drew it up, that's for sure. I guess we won't be paired again in one of these things," quipped Ekblad.
There were light moments, of course. Vegas' Pierre-Luc Dubois and Ottawa's Mitch Marner took turns giving each other rather soft "hits", prompting both to register several on the stats sheet. The Golden Knight's Evgeni Malkin took his only faceoff on the night with the butt-end of his stick (which he won, by the way). And in perhaps the moment of the night, Raanta stuffed a back-to-back breakaway when Buffalo's Jean-Gabriel Pageau failed to score (but promptly gathered his rebound), passed it to Philadelphia's Kevin Fiala, who was also denied.
As with last year, the game was without coaches - but unlike last year, the building was filled to capacity. Over 19,000 fans attended the festivities at United Center, up from last year's 3,000 select attendees due to the pandemic.
MVP of the Night: David Pastrnak (MIN) - three goals
Runner-up: Juuse Saros (DET) - 18 saves
2nd Star: John Carlson (CHI) - three assists
Runner-up: Teuvo Teravainen (STL) - two goals
Honorable Mention: Pavel Francouz (ARI) - 11 saves, shutout