2018 NHL All-Star Game: Lundqvist Makes Five Saves For Team Metropolitan in 7-4 Defeat
Lundqvist stopped five of seven in his lone period of play in All-Star Game for Team Metropolitan.
Henrik Lundqvist was the lone Ranger selected for the 2018 All-Star Game, and he started for Team Metropolitan in their semifinal matchup against Team Atlantic.
The 3-on-3 extravaganza saw Sidney Crosby strike first for the Metro 1:09 into the game after being assisted by Alex Ovechkin.
Ovechkin ➡️ Crosby. #NHLAllStar pic.twitter.com/RpEVDqLRUu
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) January 28, 2018
Team Atlantic tried to push the pace after going down 1-0, and Auston Matthews was all alone on a breakaway and got stopped by Lundqvist as he to the backhand.
Later on Matthews would get his revenge as he got Team Atlantic on the board on a goal assisted by Jack Eichel and Aleksander Barkov with 4:30 left in the first period.
The puck was turned over as the Metro tried to escape the zone, a situation all too familiar for Hank. The tie game lasted just over two minutes, and then Claude Giroux scored a nifty goal after faking out Andrei Vasilevskiy.
He made it look like he was going to pass to a trailing Brian Boyle, but instead he shot it right by the Tampa Bay Lightning netminder.
"Do I need help? Nah." -@28CGiroux #NHLAllStar pic.twitter.com/SZsyJLWCJg
— NHL (@NHL) January 28, 2018
It looked like Team Atlantic was going to tie the game when Erik Karlsson received a nice pass from Nikita Kucherov, but Hank stuck out the pad to make the save.
The play went back up the ice and saw Ovechkin score off a feed from Sidney Crosby and the Metropolitan Division had a seemingly cushy 3-1 lead.
The two-goal lead lasted a scant 11 seconds as Kucherov scored his first goal of the game on a setup from Karlsson and Steven Stamkos.
From that point on both sides traded some chances, and with seconds left in the period Mike Green tried to tie the game, but Lundqvist stood tall to keep the game 3-2 in favor of the Metro.
When all was said and done, Lundqvist faced seven shots, and stopped five in 10:00 of play and his evening was done.
Braden Holtby played the second period of the game and allowed five goals on 10 shots. Things got so bad that the Metro pulled Holtby for an extra skater with less than 2:00 remaining in an attempt to score three goals to force a shootout to break the tie.
That didn’t happen and just like that Team Metro was eliminated. Obviously this was an All-Star game for fun, but man oh man did Holtby look bad. After the first goal allowed, I made this joke, and it was all downhill from there.
Holtby playing like it is the second round of the playoffs.
— Tom Urtz Jr. 🥅📊📉📈 (@TomUrtzJr) January 28, 2018
All in all Lundqvist enjoyed himself, and was seen laughing on the bench after Wes McCauley made a “No Goal” announcement after Team Metropolitan challenged a play for being offside.
The bench sure enjoyed that Wes McCauley "NO GOAL!" call. pic.twitter.com/mc9OWcLwGD
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) January 28, 2018
Team Atlantic is set to take on Team Pacific in the final for $1 million, as they defeated Team Central 5-2 in the first semifinal matchup.