53rd National Hockey League All - Star Game The 53rd National Hockey League All - Star Game was held during the 2002 – 03 NHL season , and took place at the Office Depot Center in Sunrise , Florida , the home of the Florida Panthers , on February 2 , 2003 . It was the first All - Star Game since the 1997 All - Star Game to use the Eastern Conference - Western Conference format . All - Star weekend . NHL YoungStars Game . The All - Star festivities began on February 1 with the YoungStars Game , pitting the best rookies on league rosters against each other . Months ago , it was decided that the assistant coaches of the team with the best points percentages in their respective conferences through the games of Wednesday , January 8 , were selected as coaches for the Eastern Conference and Western Conference YoungStars , respectively . The YoungStars players were selected by the NHL ' s Hockey Operations Department , in consultation with League General Managers . The game ' s format changed from the previous season as it will be played using five skaters and one goaltender per team . The duration of the game will consist of three 10 - minute periods , running time with 15 - second stops after goals with a four - minute break between periods . If the score is tied after three periods , a sudden - death shootout will determine the winner . Washington Capitals ' Brian Sutherby won the Most Valuable Player for the Eastern Conference YoungStars by scoring two goals and an assist as the East cruised to an easy 8 – 3 victory . Hometown favourite Stephen Weiss also scored a goal and an assist for the East to thrill the Panthers fans in attendance . Super Skills Competition . A traditional event followed the YoungStars game , with the NHL Skills Competition . The Western Conference won the competition 15 – 9 , made memorable by hard - shooting defenseman Al MacInnis of the St . Louis Blues winning his seventh Hardest Shot event , and Colorado Avalanche ' s Patrick Roy allowed only a single goal through both of the Goaltending Competitions . The Game . On Sunday , February 2 , the actual All - Star Game began . The Eastern Conference was forced to name five injury replacements to their roster , as Ed Belfour , Brian Leetch , Mario Lemieux , Saku Koivu , and Mats Sundin were all out with injury . Despite the high - profile names missing from their roster , Atlanta Thrashers ' sniper Dany Heatley opened the scoring for the Eastern Conference by scoring a fine goal past Colorado Avalanche ' s Patrick Roy just five and a half minutes into the first period . Colorado Avalanche ' s Peter Forsberg and Dallas Stars ' Mike Modano scored the next two goals to give the Western Conference a 2 – 1 lead . However , Heatley would score his second consecutive goal on Roy , by tapping in a rebound that was shot by Washington Capitals ' Jaromir Jagr to tie the score at 2 – 2 , a bit more than half - way through the first period . Five minutes later , Minnesota Wild ' s Marian Gaborik scored a goal that was similar to Heatley ' s second by banging in Los Angeles Kings ' Mathieu Schneider ' s rebound shot past Tampa Bay Lightning ' s Nikolai Khabibulin to restore the Western lead at 3 – 2 , which remained at the end of the first period . Goaltenders Roy and Khabibulin would then be replaced by Chicago Blackhawks ' Jocelyn Thibault and New Jersey Devils ' Martin Brodeur for the West and the East , respectively . The change of goaltenders made little difference for Heatley , as he finished his hat trick with a tough wrist shot past Thibault to tie the game at 3 – 3 . For the third consecutive time , however the West replied when Vancouver Canucks ' Ed Jovanovski caught a lucky deflection off the skate of Washington Capitals ' Sergei Gonchar . But for the fourth consecutive time in the game , Heatley scored an electrifying fourth goal of the game by converting a pass from hometown hero Florida Panthers ' Olli Jokinen and shooting it over Thibault ' s glove . Heatley ' s four goals in an All - Star game tied the previous records of Wayne Gretzky , Mario Lemieux , Vincent Damphousse and Mike Gartner and became the first player in All - Star history to score four - consecutive goals . No more goals were scored in the second period , and Ottawa Senators ' Patrick Lalime came in for the Eastern Conference , while Dallas Stars ' Marty Turco came in for the Western Conference . St . Louis Blues ' Al MacInnis , however , had no intention of letting the goaltenders have the spotlight as he unleashed his patented slapshot past Lalime ' s glove to give the West a 5 – 4 lead , a minute and a half into the third period . Olli Jokinen , however , would tie the game up by taking a pass from Jaromir Jagr and skating in on a partial breakaway and putting a hard wrist shot past Turco to tie the game at 5 – 5 . With ten minutes left in regulation , neither team were able to score on the two goaltenders , especially on Lalime who was spectacular and drew praise in a game that was usually reserved for offensive skills . The third period would end in a 5 – 5 tie and the winner of the 53rd NHL All - Star Game would have to be decided in overtime for the first time since 1988 . Patrick Lalime and Marty Turco remained in goal for the overtime , and both were still solid to preserve a scoreless extra period and for the first time in history an NHL All - Star Game would be settled in a shootout , which was a tantalizing sight for NHL fans who did not see shootouts in league competition . Patrick Lalime was remarkable to that point in the game , but the shootout went against him from the start as Vancouver Canucks ' Markus Naslund , Dallas Stars ' Bill Guerin , and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim ' s Paul Kariya would score for the Western Conference . On the other side , the shootout went well for Marty Turco as he only let in one goal in the shootout , which was scored by Dany Heatley . Heatley ' s shootout goal , however , did not count towards his regulation total of four leaving him tied for the record . The Western Conference skated out of one of the most thrilling All - Star Games in history with a 6 – 5 shootout victory . Heatley , with a total of five points , was named All - Star MVP .