Shootout Stars -- Down By Four, U.S. Team Rallies
February 15, 2005
By BRUCE BERLET, Courant Staff Writer | Link to Story |
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- The AHL All-Star Game had an appropriate finish, though it didn't appear it would reach overtime after 20 minutes.
But PlanetUSA rallied from a four-goal deficit and scored on its first three shootout chances for a 5-4 victory over the Canadian All-Stars Monday night.
Albany rookie Zach Parise, Hamilton's Tomas Plekanec and Providence's Andy Hilbert beat Manchester's Mathieu Garon to end the U.S. team's four-game losing streak. Rochester's Ryan Miller made three stops in the third shootout in All-Star history.
Until the comeback that earned each PlanetUSA player $500, the Wolf Pack's Jason LaBarbera was in line to be the winning goalie in his All-Star debut. He had 11 saves in the first period, leaving with a 4-0 lead on goals by St. John's Kyle Wellwood, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's Michel Ouellet, Hershey's Eric Perrin (short-handed) and Norfolk's Rene Bourque in 10:37 of the opening 17:46.
LaBarbera's best stops came on Bridgeport wing Sean Bergenheim and a deflection by Philadelphia defenseman Joni Pitkanen. LaBarbera's shutout period was the first for a starting goalie since Portland's Martin Brochu made 23 saves in the first period of Canada's 8-3 victory in 2000.
"I was pretty nervous the whole period because you don't want to be the guy that gets lit up for five or six goals," said LaBarbera, who was using new pads. "It's such a different game. Obviously the intensity isn't as high and the checking is not as tight, so the guys have more room to go side-to-side and make passes that normally wouldn't be made.
"Everybody is pretty loosey-goosey while the three goalies are sitting together [in the locker room] trying to stay focused for the period we're going to play. And you have to bear down as goalie."
LaBarbera lost the victory when Houston's Mikko Koivu tied it with 9:42 left. PlanetUSA's Plekanac, Hilbert and Binghamton's Brian Bochenski made it 4-3 with goals in a 4:59 span early in the second when they outshot the Canadians 20-6 on the way to a 45-26 advantage.
Pack defenseman Lawrence Nycholat, who also made his All-Star debut paired with Worcester's Dennis Wideman, was scoreless and minus-1 and fired wide on a 30-foot shot with about three minutes left.
"I just tried to have fun and not get scored on," Nycholat said. "There are so many good players that you just try to move the puck to them.
"And you try to be aware if [Wideman] jumps up and make sure one of us is back. We both like to jump up, but you want to make sure we're not having a total yard sale when we're out there and leave the goalies out to dry."
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