After a huge comeback in the first period to tie the game, Team Lidstrom again got down early in the period. This time Patrick Sharp and Kris Letang got Team Staal ahead 6-4 early but Team Lidstrom would bounce right back.

Anze Kopitar scored on a 2-on-0 break with Loui Eriksson to make it 6-5. Four minutes later, Steve Stamkos tied it up after getting some great passing from Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards. Team Lidstrom grabbed the lead just over a minute later when Daniel Briere ripped one past Carey Price to make it 7-6.

Despite all the scoring the stars of the period were Team Lidstrom goalie Jonas Hiller and Team Staal’s Carey Price. Hiller stopped 15 or 17 shots including some incredible stops in the splits to rob Jeff Skinner. Price too stood on his head saving 13 of 16 shots showing that the game isn’t just about offense.

If you’re looking for early front-runners for All-Star Game MVP, Patrick Sharp of Team Staal has a goal and two assists while Team Lidstrom’s Anze Kopitar has two goals.

After one period of the All-Star Game in Raleigh, Team Staal got the home fans worked into a frenzy jumping out to a 4-0 lead making it look like we’d have a romp on our hands. Alex Ovechkin, Paul Stastny, Patrik Elias, and Claude Giroux each had goals for Team Staal while Patrick Sharp had three assists.

The lead wouldn’t last as Team Lidstrom got it back starting with Anze Kopitar’s nifty move to beat Cam Ward. Lidstrom’s squad wouldn’t let up after that getting a stuffed-home shot by Dustin Byfuglien and then Loui Eriksson capitalizing off a Kris Letang turnover to Team Lidstrom’s Martin Havlat who set up Eriksson for the easy goal. The scoring was capped off by Matt Duchene’s breakaway goal tying the game thanks to Nicklas Lidstrom’s fantastic outlet pass.

As expected, the goalies took a beating that period. Marc-Andre Fleury and Cam Ward each stopped 10 shots out of 14 faced.

With Team Staal loaded with hometown guys it’s easy to see that they want to get rookie Jeff Skinner his first All-Star Game goal and make the place go crazy. His linemates Patrik Elias and Paul Stastny are doing a lot of work to try and set him up. Can you blame them? The RBC Center will go ballistic if Skinner lights the lamp.

The NHL All-Star Game gets under way at 4 p.m. and with so many potential story lines that will go down in this afternoon’s game, there’s a few things to at least keep an eye on during the game.

Goalies

We know Marc-Andre Fleury will start for Team Lidstrom but it hasn’t been announced yet who will start for Team Staal. The speculation says that hometown guy Cam Ward will get the nod to play the first period. If it’s not Ward, it’ll be either Carey Price or Henrik Lundqvist getting the nod.

If you’re not familiar with how the All-Star Game goes, each goalie will play for a period. It’s an easy way to either keep your team in the game or end up being part of a highlight reel of insane goals.

Teammate vs. Teammate

Seven different teams will have teammates squaring off against each other in this one. Having these sorts of showdowns is part of what helps make this format to the game a lot more interesting and the most intriguing face off comes with twin brothers Henrik and Daniel Sedin being on opposing teams for the first time. Henrik suits up for Team Lidstrom while Daniel is on Team Staal. Ryan Kesler joins Daniel on Team Staal as part of the Vancouver showdown.

Other teams with a taste of civil war to them have players getting a chance to score on their goalie teammates. Anaheim has Corey Perry (Staal) getting to fire pucks on Jonas Hiller (Lidstrom), Boston has Zdeno Chara (Staal) going against Tim Thomas (Lidstrom), and Pittsburgh has Kris Letang (Staal) going against Marc-Andre Fleury (Lidstrom).

Chicago will see Patrick Sharp be a one-man gang for Team Staal against his teammates Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, and Jonathan Toews for Team Lidstrom. Colorado has young gun Matt Duchene (Lidstrom) up against Paul Stastny (Staal) while the Flyers will have Daniel Briere (Lidstrom) go up against Claude Giroux (Staal).

Not-so secret key to the game: Chemistry

It’s not a real secret that keeping guys that play together on the same team together on the ice and both Team Staal and Team Lidstrom have plenty of representation that bring a little bit of chemistry together on the ice. Team Staal brings the thunder with hometown favorites Jeff Skinner and Eric Staal. Vancouver’s Ryan Kesler and Daniel Sedin and Washington’s Mike Green and Alex Ovechkin will look to bring the offense.

Team Lidstrom has the Blackhawks trio of Kane, Toews, and Keith to run out there when they need to. A pair of dynamic duos to watch will be Dallas’ Brad Richards and Loui Eriksson and Tampa Bay’s Steve Stamkos and Martin St. Louis. Mixing in any other forward with those pairs should work out rather nice. Minnesota’s Martin Havlat and Brent Burns will also get a chance to work things out as well.

Most important thing to remember

It’s all for fun and to show off everyone’s elite skill. If you find yourself getting agitated about the lack of hitting or defensive presence at all, you might need to take a breather and go for a walk to let that clear out of your system. These guys do want to win, but they’re not about to lay out and block shots to do it. Sit back and enjoy the show.