NHL: Team Chara outlasts Team Alfredsson in all-star game

OTTAWA – Defense was a rumor. So was physical play. Heck, the singer Drake, who performed after the second intermission, did as much hitting as the players in Sunday’s 59th NHL All-Star Game at Scotiabank Place. In other words, it was a typical All-Star Game: Free-wheeling pond hockey on national TV. The New York Rangers’ Marian Gaborik recorded a hat trick and was named the MVP as Team Chara outlasted Team Alfredsson, 12-9. It was the fourth-highest scoring game in all-star history.
Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen played for the winners and was not involved in the scoring, but he did put in a good word with his defensive partner, Nashville’s Ryan Suter, about playing in Philadelphia.
Suter, an outstanding two-way player, can become an unrestricted free agent after the season. He said he will not sign during the season, opening the possibility that the Predators will trade him. The Flyers are interested.
“I said to him that Philly is a nice town and he would probably enjoy Philly,” said Timonen, who was once Suter’s teammate in Nashville. “We’ll see. He’s in a situation I was a few years back, and nobody knows what’s going to happen. Obviously, he wants to stay there, but I don’t know if he’s going to be given a chance (for that) to happen.
“If he gets the money, what he wants, he will stay there.”
Team Alfredsson had four members of the Ottawa Senators – including captain Daniel Alfredsson, who was serenaded with “Al-fie, Al-fie” chants after each of his two goals. The four Senators combined for seven points and a minus-11 rating.
Hartnell, who was credited with the game’s only hit, had pledged to give $1,000 to charity for each time he fell down. By his count, he fell to the ice five or six times. During one shift, Giroux, who was his linemate in the last two periods, tried unsuccessfully to knock down his own teammate.
“I raised maybe 5,000 or 6,000 bucks. It’s pretty cool,” said Hartnell, whose constant slips on the ice started a #HartnellDown surge on Twitter that led to T-shirts that are sold for charitable causes.
Hartnell claimed Giroux “was trying to trip me on every faceoff. He got me down in warm-up.”
“I tried to trip him a whole shift and wasn’t able to,” said a smiling Giroux, who scored his goal on an assist from Hartnell. “It was for charity, and I didn’t think he fell enough, so I was trying to get in there.”
Giroux started on a line with Tampa Bay’s Steve Stamkos and San Jose’s Logan Couture, while Hartnell began on a unit with Vancouver’s Sedin twins, Henrik and Daniel. In the second period, Hartnell replaced Stamkos and was with Giroux and Couture.
Boston’s Zdeno Chara and Florida’s Brian Campbell were each plus-7. Chara scored what proved to be the winning goal, giving his team a 10-8 lead after converting Gaborik’s pass with 7:40 left.
Gaborik pretended his stick was a machine gun as he celebrated after beating his Rangers teammate, Henrik Lundqvist, on his first goal, and he led Team Chara with four points. Four other Team Chara players – Calgary’s Jarome Iginla, Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk, Chicago’s Marian Hossa and Toronto’s Phil Kessel – had three points apiece.
Toronto’s Joffrey Lupul, a former Flyer, had a pair of goals for the winners.
Timonen’s parents traveled from Finland for the all-star weekend, and his wife and three children were also in Ottawa.
“It was great to spend four days with my family here,” said Timonen, whose son, Samuel, 12, was next to him in the locker room. “Not many hockey players get a chance to come here and bring their son. I’m sure he’s going to remember that for a long time.”