Sweet reward
Senators' Yashin tops World All-Star team reserves
Posted: Wednesday January 20, 1999 10:28 PM
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Senator sniper: Ottawa's Yashin is tied for third in the NHL in scoring with 48 points Robert Laberge/Allsport |
NEW YORK (Ticker) -- Ottawa center Alexei Yashin of Russia, who entered
Monday's action tied with Philadelphia's Eric Lindros for third in league
scoring, heads the list of players added to the World Team for the NHL
All-Star Game on January 24 in Tampa, Florida.
Yashin has at least one point in every contest during Ottawa's current
unbeaten streak, a franchise-record eight-game run that has seen the
six-year veteran collect four goals and nine assists. He has amassed 17
goals and 31 assists with a plus-20 rating, helping Ottawa to a 21-13-5
mark, one point behind Toronto and Buffalo for first place in the Northeast
Division.
Despite owning one more point than starter Peter Forsberg of the Colorado Avalanche,
Yashin will be a reserve center in Tampa, with countryman Viktor Kozlov of
the Florida Panthers
and Czech Republic native Bobby Holik of the New Jersey Devils.
Nine of the 18 reserves selected by league general managers will be
participating in their first All-Star Game. Starters were determined in fan
balloting and announced last week.
A pair of goaltenders who have led their teams to surprise starts will
back up starter Dominik Hasek of the Buffalo Sabres.
Russian Nikolai Khabibulin, who has led the Phoenix Coyotes to the
second-best record in the Western Conference, owns a 7-3 mark with a 1.96
goals-against average, a .927 save percentage and three shutouts. Arturs
Irbe of Latvia has notched a 2.15 GAA with a 9.26 save percentage and a 9-5
record, leading the Carolina Hurricanes to
first place in the Southeast Division.
Among wingers, Pavol Demitra of the St. Louis Blues will make his
All-Star debut as a backup to starters Jaromir Jagr of the Pittsburgh Penguins and
Anaheim's Teemu Selanne. A Slovakia native, Demitra is having a career
season, leading the Blues with 20 goals and 22 assists.
Fellow Slovakian Peter Bondra, a right winger for the Washington Capitals, will
make his fifth All-Star appearance despite managing just 13 goals and 10
assists this season.
Swedish native Mats Sundin of the Toronto Maple Leafs and
Ukraine's Dmitri Khristich of the Boston Bruins, who are tied
with Demitra for ninth in the league in scoring, are the only other reserve
wingers with All-Star experience. This will be Sundin's fourth game and
Khristich's second.
Wingers selected to the All-Star Game for the first time include Czech
Republic native Martin Straka of the Penguins, Swede Markus Naslund of the
Vancouver Canucks,
German Marco Sturm of the San
Jose Sharks and Russian Sergei Krivokrasov of the expansion Nashville
Predators.
Finland's Teppo Numminen and Russia's Alexei Zhitnik give the Coyotes and
Sabres, respectively, two players on the squad. That pair of defensemen
will back up Detroit Red
Wings teammates Nicklas Lidstrom and Uwe Krupp.
Czech native Roman Hamrlik of the Edmonton Oilers, Russian
Sergei Zubov of the Dallas
Stars and Sweden's Kenny Jonsson of the New York Islanders were
the other defensemen named to the squad.
Hasek was the leading vote-getter for the World All-Stars with 409,024.
His coach, Lindy Ruff, will guide the World All-Stars, based on the Sabres'
winning percentage as of December 29.
This is the second straight year in which the NHL will use the World-North
American format at the All-Star Game. Last season, to build momentum for
the Nagano Olympics, the league shifted away from its traditional Eastern
Conference-Western Conference format.
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