Marian Gaborik of the New York Rangers was named MVP as Team Chara defeated Team Alfredsson, 12-9, Sunday in the 2012 NHL All-Star Game in Ottawa at Scotiabank Place.
The New York Rangers were represented by goalkeeper Henrik Lundqvist (Team Alfredsson), defenseman Dan Girardi (Team Alfredsson) and Marian Gaborik (Team Chara). Lundqvist had a rough first period as Gaborik scored on him twice. Evgeni Malkin also beat Lundqvist in the first period. Lundqvist finished with 9 saves. After Team Alfredsson trailed 3-0, they fought back with three straight goals to end the period tied. Girardi assisted on the first Team Alfredsson goal by Jason Spezza. John Tavares of the New York Islanders scored the third goal of the first period for Team Alfredsson.
Gaborik got a hat trick on his fourth shot of the game when he scored early in the second period. Team Chara built a 5-3 lead in the second period before again conceding three consecutive goals. Team Chara got one goal back before the end of the period when Patrick Kane scored to tie the game at 6.
The teams traded goals in the third period and were tied at 7 less than five minutes into the period. Team Chara took an 8-7 lead on a Jerome Iginla goal at the 7:45 mark. Claude Giroux tied the score at 8 a couple of minutes later. Team Chara put the game away with three consecutive goals, including one by Zdeno Chara which Gaborik assisted on. Team Alfredsson scored one more to cut the deficit to 11-9 at the 14:20 mark but Team Chara scored again a minute and a half later to seal the win.
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