West wins All-Star game in overtime

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Dany Heatley did something that's almost impossible to do in an exhibition like the NHL All-Star game -- he made it dramatic and exciting.\nHeatley, a not-so-well known star from a last-place team playing in his first All-Star game, joined hockey greats such as Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux by scoring a record-tying four goals Sunday, though he couldn't prevent the Western Conference from beating the East in the first All-Star shootout in NHL history.\nAfter a 5-all regulation tie set up the fourth overtime All-Star game, the West won 6-5 when Markus Naslund, Bill Guerin and Paul Kariya scored in the shootout against goalie Patrick Lalime. Only Heatley -- of course -- scored for the East against goalie Marty Turco.\nThough Heatley put the puck in the net five times, the NHL announced several minutes after the game he would be credited only with four goals -- the fifth player to do so.\nMost of the fans left thinking the score was 8-6, as the West outscored the East 3-1 in the shootout; that also was changed by the NHL's hockey operations department after most had departed.\nHeatley, a 22-year-old overshadowed at times on his own Atlanta Thrashers team by Ilya Kovalchuk, matched Gretzky (1983), Lemieux (1990), Vincent Damphousse (1991) and Mike Gartner (1993) as the only players in the All-Star game's 53-year history with four goals.\nBy not counting Heatley's shootout goal, the NHL also prevented him from matching Lemieux's 1988 record of six points in a game.\nAfter getting his fourth goal with six minutes still remaining in the second period, Heatley flashed a typical hockey player's missing-tooth grin, then spent the rest of the fast-moving and relatively low-scoring game trying to get his record fifth goal.\nHis linemates, who usually included home-ice star Olli Jokinen of Florida and Washington's Jaromir Jagr, tried to get it for him too, repeatedly giving him the puck every time he hit the ice.\nThe relatively quiet fans in Office Depot Center, who didn't throw the traditional hats onto the ice after Heatley's third goal, began to realize what was happening, too, and picked up the noise level whenever he touched the puck.\nHe didn't get that fifth goal in regulation, but he did set up Jokinen's first career All-Star goal midway through the third period. Jokinen, a late addition to the game, also had a memorable debut with a goal and three assists.\nHeatley's big game came only one year after he played in the Young Stars game, held the night before the All-Star game.\nFittingly enough, his big game highlighted an afternoon in which the NHL's young stars -- for a change -- truly did overshadow the traditional names such as Roy, Roenick, Lidstrom, Forsberg and Jagr.\nMarian Gaborik, who at 20 is nearly two years younger than Heatley, had a goal and two assists to lead the West's first victory in the All-Star game since 1992 -- when it was still known as the Campbell Conference. Maybe Gaborik was pumped up from a pregame compliment by Lemieux, who said the Minnesota Wild forward already is one of the game's five best players.\nHe looked it, too, as the fastest skater on the ice, scoring the goal that put the West up 3-2 in the first by beating Tampa Bay goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, who gave up three goals a year after having a rare All-Star shutout period.\nThere were some impressive efforts in net, though, especially considering the All-Star score was 14-12 with a World vs. North America format only two years ago. Martin Brodeur of New Jersey allowed only a goal in the first overtime All-Star game since 1988. And Lalime and Turco gave up only a goal each until the shootout.\nAnd the old-timers weren't entirely left out, either -- the 39-year-old Al MacInnis also scored for the West in his first All-Star appearance in three years, as did longtime stars Mike Modano of Dallas and Peter Forsberg of Colorado. Jagr, who had only eight points in seven previous All-Star appearances, also had two assists for the East.\nThe East-West format was back for the first time since 1997 after five years of World vs. North America. The East won the three previous games before the change.\nThe relatively low score was a welcome change from the football-like scores of the most recent All-Star games; 212 goals were scored in the previous 13 games.