LOS ANGELES -- Nikolai Khabibulin's perfect goaltending gave his Russian Olympic teammates high hopes for Salt Lake City and left other All-Stars shaking their heads.
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Nikolai Khabibulin of the World team makes one of his 20 saves in the third period, denying game MVP Eric Daze. (Ric Francis, Associated Press) | |
"His size and quickness make him one of the top in the league," Mario Lemieux said. "He's very sound technically. He's always in the right position."
With double-digit scoring a tradition in the NHL All-Star Game, Khabibulin, the Tampa Bay goalie, shut out the North American team while the World rallied with five goals in the third period for an 8-5 win yesterday.
"You don't totally expect to have a shutout when you play games like this," Khabibulin said. "Just like I said before, I got lucky today."
Chicago's Eric Daze, making his All-Star Game debut, was named Most Valuable Player after posting two goals and an assist for North America. Lemieux and Vancouver defenseman Ed Jovanovski also scored for North America.
Lemieux's goal was his 13th in the All-Star Game, tying him with Wayne Gretzky for the most goals in the annual exhibition.
Vancouver's Markus Naslund scored his second goal to put the World ahead, 6-5, with 1:43 left, and Chicago's Alexei Zhamnov and Carolina's Sami Kapanen added empty-net goals.
Naslund, a Swedish Olympian, praised Khabibulin, a possible opponent two weeks from now.
"He's one of those guys you've got to watch to see how good of a goaltender he really is," Naslund said. "He's not on the best of teams, but he still keeps it to a low score. He's truly one of the best goaltenders in the league."
Could he be the difference in the Olympics?
"Let's keep our fingers crossed," said Russian center Alexei Yashin, who assisted on the fourth of five World goals in the third period.
"I certainly hope so," added Detroit's Sergei Fedorov, who also scored late.
Said Khabibulin: "I can't really say that this is a preview of Olympics. It's a totally different game."
Khabibulin stopped all 20 shots he faced. He joined Colorado's Patrick Roy, New Jersey's Martin Brodeur and Washington's Olaf Kolzig as the only goaltenders to play a scoreless period in the past 14 All-Star Games.
The 13 goals were exactly half of the 2001 total when the North Americans won, 14-12.
"There were chances, but the goaltenders made some big saves out there," Detroit's Chris Chelios said. "There could easily have been three or four more goals either way. When you get goaltending of this caliber, anything can happen.
"There weren't as many outnumbered situations as there were in the past," the 11-time All Star added. "I guess the guys didn't want to leave the goalies hung out to dry."
Naslund, who had just joined Calgary's Jarome Iginla for the NHL scoring lead last week, helped the World erase two-goal deficits twice.
With a scorer's confidence, he believes Khabibulin could be outsmarted in Salt Lake City. "He's solvable," Naslund said. "No goaltender can stop everything. If you play well enough, goals will come eventually."
San Jose's Teemu Selanne had two first-period goals for the World team while Fedorov and Columbus' Espen Knutsen also scored.
It took 35 seconds for San Jose's Vincent Damphousse to score the first goal, giving the North Americans the early lead. The record for fastest game-opening goal is Ted Lindsay's score 19 seconds into the 1950 All-Star Game.
The World team, coached by Detroit's Scotty Bowman, seemed out of tune and flat early, particularly in relation to the North Americans.
North American Coach Pat Quinn's tinkering allowed the U.S. players to stay together, and the defensive pairing of Chelios and the New York Rangers Brian Leetch is a likely fit for the Olympics. Up front, the Rangers' Mike York and Philadelphia's Jeremy Roenick played together.
Chelios made his 11th All-Star appearance -- the most of any player in Los Angeles -- while Leetch made his ninth.
World goalie Dominik Hasek started and allowed three goals on 13 shots in the first period. The Detroit netminder didn't seem too concerned, smiling slightly after each goal.
Roy allowed Selanne's two goals on 14 World shots in the first period.
Montreal goalie Jose Theodore, a first-time All Star, shined in the second period for the North Americans.
"They made a few incredible saves," Khabibulin said of Roy and Theodore. "You just kind of shake your head."
Daze, the 26-year-old Chicago left winger, is fifth in the NHL scoring race with 46 points (26 goals, 20 assists).
He was surprised he won MVP over Khabibulin.
"Because we lost the game and he played pretty good," Daze explained. "He made some good saves in the third. Well, you know, I'll take it."
NHL All-Star Game: Khabibulin star of stars; Daze MVP 
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