You already know that Phil Kessel and Tyler Seguin will be on a line together with Joffrey Lupul, but how about the rest of the lineups? Since the Internet is a wonderful place, the lines, defense pairings, and what periods the goalies will be playing is already out. Here’s how things shake out for this afternoon’s NHL All-Star Game.
Team Alfredsson
Milan Michalek - Jason Spezza - Daniel Alfredsson
Scott Hartnell - Henrik Sedin - Daniel Sedin
Logan Couture - Claude Giroux - Steve Stamkos
James Neal - John Tavares - Jason Pominville
Erik Karlsson - Kris Letang
Keith Yandle - Shea Weber
Alex Edler - Dan Girardi
In goal, Team Alfie will roll with Henrik Lundqvist in the first period, Jonathan Quick in the second, and Brian Elliott in the third.
Hartnell tweeted about how excited he was to play on a line with the Sedins. Meanwhile, seeing Couture with Giroux and Stamkos is a youth explosion. The hometown fans will be happy to have their top line all together for this game. Having a 27-goal-scorer like Neal on the fourth line ain’t bad either.
Team Chara
Marian Gaborik - Pavel Datsyuk - Marian Hossa
Corey Perry - Evgeni Malkin - Jarome Iginla
Joffrey Lupul - Tyler Seguin - Phil Kessel
Jamie Benn - Patrick Kane - Jordan Eberle
Zdeno Chara - Brian Campbell
Dion Phaneuf - Dennis Wideman
Ryan Suter - Kimmo Timonen
Team Chara will go with Detroit’s Jimmy Howard in the first period, Montreal’s Carey Price in the second, and Tim Thomas in the third. If Thomas gets the win in this game, it’ll be his fourth straight All-Star Game victory.
A top line with Gaborik, Datsyuk, and Hossa is mind-boggling and with Datsyuk having some previous experience with Hossa should help make that line go with Gaborik and Hossa being Slovak countrymen. Having a line with Malkin centering last year’s MVP Perry and all-world man of the hour Iginla is something special.
We’re sure no one in Philly will make a big deal about Suter being paired up with Timonen and no one will say it’s a preview of what could happen if the Flyers trade for Suter. Nope. Chara will be happy to take passes from Campbell the same way Campbell has been feeding them to Jason Garrison in Florida this year.
These are just the way the lines will start and the coaches have said that if guys want to change things up on the fly, they’ll be happy to accommodate.