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Heeeere’s Johnny! Scott puts on show, scores twice as Pacific upsets Central

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Make it two goals for All-Star captain John Scott. With a quick transition from one end of the ice to the other, Brent Burns gets the puck to Scott who finds the back of the net past Devan Dubnyk.

NASHVILLE -- This is a Johnny Cash city, to be sure.

But on Sunday, for a few hours anyway, it was about Johnny Scott.

In a performance that set social media ablaze, Scott -- originally voted into this All-Star weekend as a gag -- scored a pair of goals, flattened Patrick Kane, “fought” Kane and completely endeared himself to the Bridgestone faithful, helping his Pacific Division teammates to a 9-6 win over the Central.

Scott scored the first of his goals 47 seconds into the game, then potted his second at 3:27 of the second period. That represents nearly half of his career goal total -- five -- which took him 285 regular season contests accumulating.

Clearly, the guy should be playing more 3-on-3.

Scott was the star of the show in the second of two semifinal matchups on Sunday, but he wasn’t the only star. Ducks goalie John Gibson came up with two highlight-reel plays -- one on a stretch pass to set up Daniel Sedin for a goal, the second on a terrific splits-save on Tyler Seguin -- while Taylor Hall and Brent Burns each finished with three points.

Fans in attendance appreciated Scott’s theatrics, even if it was at the expense of their Predators.

Nashville had four players on the Central Division roster -- James Neal, Shea Weber, Roman Josi and Pekka Rinne -- and the crowd was clearly pulling for them to advance to the final.

While it wasn’t to be, fans had to be pleased at how the Preds quartet did, especially Neal (who finished with two goals) and Weber (who finished with a pair of assists).

Overall, the Pacific’s victory had to be considered an upset. Many saw the Central’s roster as the strongest among the four teams, and there was some thought the strong Nashville influence would result in some extra “juice.”

But it wasn’t to be. Not on Sunday, when the John Scott show was in full effect.