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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Bourque Lifts East Stars Bruins Defenseman’s Late Goal Sends Boston Fans Home Happy

Associated Press

Ray Bourque gave his hometown fans and NHL officials plenty to cheer about - a rousing finish to its star-filled night.

His goal with 38 seconds left changed the tone of a sometimes dull defensive battle and gave the East a 5-4 win over the West on Saturday night.

Last year’s game was canceled because of the owners’ lockout of players in a contract dispute.

“I think we put on a good show,” Bourque said. “The crowd enjoyed the game. The finish was great.”

Although there was more tenacious defense - but not much more hitting - than in recent games, the match had lacked the excitement that comes with breakaways, high-speed rushes and whirling passes.

Then Bourque, the five-time Norris Trophy winner in his 16 seasons with the Bruins, swept in for the winning goal and raised his arms skyward as the fans went wild.

“I don’t think it could have gone any better for me,” he said. “Obviously, I could have scored 10 goals and a whole bunch of assists, but scoring the winning goal with (about) 30 seconds left in your own building in front of your fans, you can’t ask for a better feeling.”

It was appropriate that a defenseman would make the big play in the lowest-scoring All-Star game since 1986. “This was a great way to end it for the city and for Ray,” East coach Doug MacLean said.

Until Teemu Selanne tied the game for the West with 3:29 to go and Bourque won it, the six goaltenders who played had upstaged such offensive stars as Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.

“I can’t believe some of the saves that they really made,” West coach Scotty Bowman said.

Bourque became just the second defenseman to win the game’s MVP award. Another great Boston defenseman, Bobby Orr, was the first.

Pat Verbeek’s shot from the left circle was saved by Felix Potvin. But the puck skittered out to the other side, where Bourque was racing in. He fired a 15-foot backhander over Potvin’s left shoulder and the cheers poured down.

Each side had more likely goal scorers that Bourque. Eric Lindros and Verbeek gave the East a 2-0 lead after one period. Jaromir Jagr made it 3-0, but Brett Hull cut the deficit 5:33 into the second period.

Brendan Shanahan’s goal gave the East a comfortable 4-1 advantage. It quickly became uncomfortable as another high-scoring defenseman, Paul Coffey, scored at 11:42 and Paul Kariya connected at 17:47 as the West closed to 4-3.

Dominik Hasek’s brilliant goaltending kept it that way for most of the third periodBut that session never happened. Neither did an innovation for the game - a shootout that would have followed a scoreless overtime.

The NHL did get to show off some of its new attributes in its 46th All-Star game. The game was played in the four-month-old FleetCenter and was the first prime-time All-Star game since 1989.

And the network telecast used a device designed to make it easier to follow the puck - a blue dot surrounding it and a red tail coming off it on slapshots.

East 5, West 4

West 0 3 1 - 4 East 2 2 1 - 5

First period-1, Eastern, Lindros (Leetch, LeClair), 11:05. 2, Eastern, Verbeek (Lemieux, Schneider), 13:49.

Second period-3, Eastern, Jagr (Lemieux, Francis), 2:07. 4, Western, Hull (Kariya, Coffey), 5:33. 5, Eastern, Shanahan (Turgeon, Neely), 8:51. 6, Western, Coffey (Fedorov, Mogilny), 11:42. 7, Western, Kariya (Sundin), 17:47.

Third period-8, Western, Selanne, 16:31. 9, Eastern, Bourque (Messier, Verbeek), 19:22.

Shots on goal-Western 12-7-13-32 Eastern 18-15-8-41.Power-play opp.-Western 0 of 1; Eastern 0 of 1.Goalies-Western, Belfour (18 shots-16 saves), Osgood (0:00 second, 15-13), Potvin, L (0:00 third, 8-7). Eastern, Brodeur (12-12), Vanbiesbrouck (0:00 second, 7-4), Hasek, W (0:00 third, 13-12).A-17,565.