"It's huge," Giroux said after his squad, Team Alfredsson, dropped a 12-9 decision to Team Chara at Scotiabank Place. "I think I'm pretty lucky to be able to win that award. Obviously, I had a lot of help."
Giroux will be among the honorees at a banquet at the Crowne Plaza in Cherry Hill at 6:30 p.m. Cocktails are at 5 p.m., and tickets are available at pswadinner.com.
Hartnell excels
Scott Hartnell, a late addition to the all-stars, contributed a pair of assists for Team Alfredsson. He thoroughly enjoyed the first all-star appearance in his 11-year career.
"It's a celebration of hockey," he said. "To get 40, 42 of the best guys playing and see the skills [Saturday] was pretty cool. See what guys can do with the puck and how hard [Zdeno] Chara's shot is."
Chara set a record with a 108.8 m.p.h. blast in Saturday's skills competition.
Knowing the speed of the shot, "it's going to really hurt the next time you block it," Hartnell said.
Safety issues
Giroux and Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos wore helmets designed to lessen the impact of head blows. Developed by Bauer with the aid of research from McGill University, the helmets had some flex in receiving an impact.
Thomas, again
Boston goalie Tim Thomas extended his record by winning a fourth straight All-Star Game, allowing three goals on 21 shots in the third period.
Detroit's Jimmy Howard started for Team Chara, and Montreal's Carey Price played the second period.
"Tim wanted the opportunity to win his fourth game, so we agreed to let him play the third," Price said. "Then Jimmy and I decided to play rock-paper-scissors to know who would go in the net for the start. Actually, it worked out just the way it was supposed to."
What's it all about, Alfie?
The Ottawa fans chanted "Al-fie, "Al-fie" throughout the game and after each of the two goals scored by the Senators' 39-year old Daniel Alfredsson.
He was asked how he would rate the lovefest weekend in his Hall-of-Fame career.
"From a selfish point of view, it's going to rank really high. It's just a whole 'ego weekend,' pretty much," he said with a laugh.
Breakaways
Three of the six all-star goalies were American-born: Thomas (Michigan), Los Angles' Jonathan Quick (Connecticut) and Howard (New York). . . . The Flyers will resume practice Monday in Voorhees at 2 p.m. They host Winnipeg on Tuesday, starting a stretch in which they play eight of their next 10 games at home. . . . The average age of the all-stars was 273/4, and, on average, they stood 6-foot-1 and weighed 2021/2 pounds. . . . Stamkos, trying a spin-o-rama, was stopped by Howard on a first-period penalty shot, the second in all-star history. . . . Florida's Brian Campbell: "Everyone is playing to be the MVP."
- Sam Carchidi
