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Pacific Division Wins NHL All-Star Game, Pastrnak Named MVP

The Pacific Division defeated the Atlantic, 5-4, to take its third All-Star title in the last five years.

Elizabeth Swinton

Pacific Division Wins NHL All-Star Game, Pastrnak Named MVP
Pacific Division Wins NHL All-Star Game, Pastrnak Named MVP /

The NHL All-Star game capped off the week's festivities in St. Louis on Saturday night with $1 million up for grabs. 

The league's four divisions faced off in three games that each lasted for two 10-minute periods. During the three-on-three rounds, the Metropolitan division went against the Atlantic, while the Pacific division faced the Central. The winners of each game then went on to the final round, where the Pacific division came from behind against the Atlantic to take the victory.

The Bruins' David Pastrnak was voted MVP after his four goals and six points, despite the Atlantic falling short in the final.

Before game action began, Blues superfan Laila Anderson participated in player introductions by announcing her hometown St. Louis' All-Stars. Her delivery was a hit.

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Round 1: Metro vs. Atlantic

The reigning All-Star game champion Metropolitan division kicked off the night against the Atlantic division. The Atlantic jumped out to a quick start, scoring two goals in the first 49 seconds of action. 

Team Metro bounced right back, scoring four straight goals to take a 4-2 lead. Pastrnak's second goal of the game tied things up after the first 10 minutes.

Goalie Braden Holtby also made an impressive save on Shea Weber to keep the game even.

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While Nico Hischier initially gave Metro the lead after the break, Atlantic went on to score three goals in a minute and did not look back, finishing the game with a 9-5 edge and advancing to the final round.

Pastrnak wrapped up his hat trick, while Anthony Duclair added one as well to power the Atlantic to the All-Star game final.

Round 2: Pacific vs. Central

While the Atlantic division was waiting to see who it would face for the prize money, the Pacific division got off to a hot start against the Central, scoring three straight goals to start things off. 

After the Pacific had a strong defensive start, the Central division started to gel. The Blackhawks' Patrick Kane received cheers from the St. Louis crowd for tying the game at 3-3, but those quickly changed to boos. 

As the Pacific and Central teams started to trade shots, it was Leon Draisaitl and Tomas Hertl who broke the game open for Pacific. To the dismay of the home crowd, both players recorded hat tricks, while Sharks forward Hertl finished with four after he scored three straight goals to extend his team's lead to a final score of 10-5.

Round 3: Atlantic vs. Pacific

After winning the 2016 and 2018 All-Star games, the Pacific division entered the final round looking to keep the Atlantic away from its first All-Star title.

Still, it was Atlantic that struck first, going up 2-0 with both goals assisted by Matthew Tkachuk.

While the Pacific put one on the board to make it 2-1, the Atlantic division answered, with goalie Frederik Andersen assisting Pastrnak for his fourth goal of the night on a breakaway.

As the game came down to the wire in the second period, the Pacific came out firing, with Elias Pettersson and Draisaitl scoring two straight goals to tie the game at 3-3.

As Conor McDavid continued to be denied and the teams again traded goals to remain tied at 4-4, it was Hertl who came up with the game-winning shot in his fifth goal of the day. Pacific held Atlantic scoreless for the final 2:30 of the game to take home the $1 million prize with a 5-4 victory.

While the Atlantic division fell short of its first All-Star game victory, Pastrnak was named MVP after his four-goal, six-point performance. On the other side, the Pacific division took home its third All-Star title in the last five years.

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Elizabeth Swinton
ELIZABETH SWINTON

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