NEW YORK — Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin prevented the Montreal Canadiens from an All-Star sweep.
The NHL announced the starting lineups Saturday for the midseason classic, and the host Canadiens filled four of the six slots for the Eastern Conference.
Crosby and Malkin, teammates and linemates with the defending East champion Pittsburgh Penguins, both broke the record for the most votes and claimed two forward positions. They will be joined up front by Montreal’s Alex Kovalev.
Washington’s Alex Ovechkin, the league’s reigning MVP and second this season in goals and points entering Saturday, finished only sixth among Eastern Conference forwards in the voting — which mystified his coach.
“It’s dumb,” Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said, adding: “It’s not right the best player in the game is not a starter.”
Jaromir Jagr, a former Penguins star, had held the record for votes, but his mark was broken by 11 players — including all six East starters — in this year’s fan balloting conducted online and via text messaging.
Crosby, elected as a starter for the third time, garnered 1,713,021 votes — shattering Jagr’s 2000 total of 1,020,736. Malkin was second with more than 1.5 million votes.
At one point during the voting process, the Canadiens led all six positions. Still, hockey’s version of the New York Yankees will be well represented, as the franchise, which last hosted the All-Star game in 1993, celebrates its 100th anniversary.
Besides the Penguins and Canadiens, only the Anaheim Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks of the Western Conference are represented in the starting lineups.
Montreal’s Andrei Markov and Mike Komisarek will start on defense, and Canadiens teammate Carey Price will be in goal on home ice at the Bell Centre on Jan. 25. Price barely beat out Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, finishing fewer than 30,000 votes ahead. Each player led the race in the final hours of voting Friday night.
Another pair of teammates dominated the voting for the Western Conference as 20-year-olds Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews of the upstart Blackhawks were the two leading vote-getters.
Ryan Getzlaf of the Ducks will be the third forward on the starting line.
Brian Campbell, Chicago’s key free-agent acquisition last summer, finished first among defenseman and will be an All-Star starter for the second time in three years. He will team with Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer on the blue line in front of Anaheim goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere, a Montreal native and first-time starter.
Notes
Blue Jackets call up Mayorov
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Columbus Blue Jackets added forward Maksim Mayorov to the roster from their AHL affiliate in Syracuse. Mayorov has seven goals and nine assists for 16 points with 20 penalty minutes in 33 games with the Crunch.
Ducks’ Perry suspended
NEW YORK — Anaheim Ducks forward Corey Perry was suspended for four games by the NHL for elbowing Philadelphia Flyers forward Claude Giroux during the third period Friday night. Based on his average annual salary, Perry will lose $114,516.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
