East earns late 8-7 win

Carolina's Eric Staal was named MVP with two goals and an assist while Rick Nash scored a hat-trick for the West.

"Everyone wants to have a competitive game," Staal said. "I thought for the most part when the game started getting close it was pretty competitive and up-and-down the ice."

Blue Jacket Nash put the West 1-0 up with only 12 seconds gone but the East took control with goals from Staal, Andrei Markov, Brian Campbell and a double from the Washington Capitals' Alex Ovechkin to grab a 5-1 lead in the first period.

The West narrowed the deficit to 5-3 in the second with Nash's second strike and a goal from Anaheim Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer.

With only two minutes gone in the third period the West had tied the score at 5-5 -- Ryan Getzlaf scoring with 41 seconds gone and Nash completing his hat-trick at 1:56.

The game opened up and action flowed from end-to-end, Marian Hossa and Staal scoring for the East and Dion Phaneuf and Marian Gaborik tallying for the West to make it 7-7.

Just as the game looked to be heading to overtime, Savard stepped up to grab the late winner for the East, delighting a sold-out crowd that watched despite the absence of injured league MVP Sidney Crosby and a handful of other top players.

No one was more relieved than Savard's Boston team mate goaltender Tim Thomas who gave up four goals in the third period.

"It felt pretty good to come up with the 'W' at the end, especially the way that period started out for me," Thomas said.

Calgary forward Jarome Iginla said the game was a showcase for the rising talent in the game.

"The league has a lot of talent right now," he said. "It's a real nice wave of young players coming in. Every year there seems to be more guys that are ready to step right in."