King Kovy and Canadiens Fuel East Over West

montreal961

The Montreal Canadiens couldn't have asked for a better ending to all-star weekend.

A sellout crowd at the Bell Centre was roaring as the teams traded chances in overtime of the all-star game on Sunday and absolutely exploded when Habs forward Alexei Kovalev scored what turned out to be the shootout winner. Kovalev also scored twice in regulation and had one assist, as the Eastern Conference All-Stars pulled out a 12-11 victory over the West and earned the MVP honors as a result. He won a truck along with the adoration of the hometown crowd.

Kovalev MVP? Talk about poetic justice for someone who (supposedly) did not deserve to be there. Ended up being the best one, go figure. Also, Andrei Markov, another Canadien that "didn’t deserve to even be there" netted a goal and an assist in the game. Carey Price was arguably the best goaltender in the game, letting in a game low of 2 goals, while all others, had 3 or more pass them by.

East 12
West 11

- Kovalev scored the game winner.
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FutureSuperstar93 · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 2:18 am Post subject:

Carey Price was not arguably the best goalie in the game. He let in something like 2 goals on 11 shots, the second goal being very soft. Tim Thomas had the highest save percentage of all goalies and kept them in it in the shootout. Goals against is a bad way to measure who did best.

Markov had one goal and no assists, and that was one goal out of 23 scored.

Kovalev did well

Lupin III · College Joined: 13 Feb 2008 Posts: 42

Do goalies try in the all star game? Does it just come down to not wanting to get injured so they don't go all out?

FutureSuperstar93 · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 10:19 am Post subject:

Another note, Komisarek had no points and the first penalty in 9 years at an all star game

montreal961 · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 12:17 pm Post subject:

On another not, Chara didn’t register a point, and got blown out of his job by rick Nash. Tomas didn’t "keep them in it" even if he would have let in those 2 goals, his team would have kept him in it. HE only made one save in the shootout, the other one missed. Price was arguably the best goalie out there. Key would "arguable" you argued about it, hence...
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FutureSuperstar93 · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 2:58 pm Post subject:

Yes, but Chara was voted in by the NHL fans. Komisarek was voted in by the Habs fans. Chara had also broken the hardest shot record the night before. So on all star weekend, Chara broke a world record and had no points. Komisarek broke no world records, had no points, and a penalty.

Thomas made the a huge save in OT, I'm sure you saw.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2yYcAmOguM
For those of you who didn't see. His save was at 7:00 of the video, saved the game in OT.

Ok, Thomas only made one stop, but he got the shooter to shoot wide. I doubt the player would have missed if Thomas weren't in goal and it was an empty net.

And if Thomas hadn't turned away those two shooters, and Ovechkin hadn't scored that goal, Kovalev wouldn't have had the winning shootout goal.

The argument you could make for Price's performance is that he could have stopped them all. He got scored on from the top of the circle, no screen, it went through him. An 11 shot period is very reasonable, two goals isn't.

canadian_man_44 · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 4:25 pm Post subject:

Like he said, the word was "arguably" the best goalie, that's why you're arguing. Laughing

Price made just as many great saves as Thomas did. The fact that Thomas is a midget beside Price just makes his saves look amazing at times. Laughing

Keep in mind, this is an all star game where there is a complete lack of defense....just like a pickup hockey game except with the best players in the world.

Kovy deserved the MVP, that's why he got it. It had nothing to do with the shootout goal as well since it was decided 10 minutes before the game was over.
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montreal961 · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 9:07 pm Post subject:

[quote="FutureSuperstar93"]
And if Thomas hadn't turned away those two shooters, and Ovechkin hadn't scored that goal, Kovalev wouldn't have had the winning shootout goal.
quote]

But it didnt happen, so I don’t know why you had to even put that Confused

...

We weren’t talking about world records; we were talking about points in the all star game... don’t be so sour. It’s the All Star game. Laughing

If you wouldn’t have called out all of the Canadiens player 4 weeks before the game, there wouldn’t be anything to be sour about. Laughing

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montreal961 · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 9:21 pm Post subject:

[quote="montreal961"]

FutureSuperstar93 · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 10:01 pm Post subject:

That goal from the bottom of the circle took a bounce and was batted out of the air and under the cross bar.

And even though it was kind of a brain cramp on Thomas' part on the breakaway, it was still a breakaway

montreal961 · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 10:33 pm Post subject:

FutureSuperstar93 · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2009 2:15 am Post subject:

Neither of them were bad goals. One of them came in bouncing in and was batted out of the air top shelf. And the other was a breakaway that LOOKED bad, but a breakaway is always hard to stop. Thomas just makes it look sloppy because of his style

montreal961 · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:12 pm Post subject:

He just laid down. It was'nt even a fast shot either, it just slid in. If he would have just butterfly slided ( not his style ) over there, it would have been a save. Or he could have made the same save he made in OT, that one pad lunge. Either way, thats a puck he should have stopped.
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canadian_man_44 · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:18 pm Post subject:

Thomas let in a bad goal, whether or not you want to believe it FS. Like monty said, a butterfly slide would have stopped that shot. Anyway, it doesn't really matter, you're just trying to validate your own thinking that Thomas was the best goalie in the all star game, even though you let us know on a regular basis how you don't really like him.
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FutureSuperstar93 · Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2009 8:38 pm Post subject:

Ok, who was the best goalie in the all star game, then? Can we get some outside opinions, not Bruins or Habs fans. Because Price obviously didn't make as many good saves as Thomas since he saw half the shots, and let in one of the cheapest of the game. This has nothing to do with the performance, but with what jersey they wear in the regular season