57th National Hockey League All - Star Game The 57th National Hockey League All - Star Game was held at the Bell Centre in Montreal , Quebec , Canada , home of the Montreal Canadiens , in conjunction with the Montreal Canadiens centennial celebrations . The game was held between two teams , each representing a conference ( Eastern and Western ) of the National Hockey League ( NHL ) . The Eastern Conference team won the game 12 – 11 , decided by shootout . The next NHL All - Star Game , the 58th , will be held in 2011 , instead of 2010 , due to the 2010 Olympics , which will be held in Vancouver , an NHL city . [ 2 ] The game was part of a weekend of activities . On Saturday , a game featuring NHL rookies and sophomores preceded a skills competition among the NHL players , called the NHL All - Star Game SuperSkills Competition . In a first for the All - Star game , the " Breakaway Challenge " , a part of the skills competition , had fans voting for the winner using their mobile phones , with the real - time voting results posted on the NHL ' s website . The All - Star game itself was played on a Sunday evening . The game was preceded by a circus arts display and a concert was held between the second and third periods . SuperSkills Competition . Unlike previous years , the Skills Competition did not have players playing on the behalf of their respective conferences ( thus , there was no conference - based scoring ) and the team - based Obstacle Course was removed . In addition , YoungStars players became eligible to play in the Fastest Skater , Hardest Shot , Shooting Accuracy , and Breakaway Challenge events . The Fastest Skater event reverted back to the traditional one - lap format . The breakaway challenge used Jason Maggio , a local minor hockey goaltender defending the goal ( to answer criticisms that the all - star goaltenders simply poke - checked the players as they were making the shot ) as well as the player being able to take as many shots as possible in one minute ( instead of only one shot ) . Finally , instead of being a judged competition , the breakaway challenge allowed the public to vote for the winner via text messaging . The public chose Alexander Ovechkin , whose highlight was a shot using two sticks while wearing a series of props provided by Evgeni Malkin , by a landslide , with 47 % of the votes . Evgeni Malkin won the shooting accuracy over Dany Heatley in a sudden death shoot - off after both score 4 - for - 4 in the preliminaries . Malkin shot 3 - 4 missing the last target while Heatley hit his first two but missed on the third . Andrew Cogliano walked off as the winner of the Fastest Skater competition . The Hardest Shot competition was played for charity , with each competitor contributing $ 1000 , to be matched by their team and the league , as well as the NHLPA , for a total of $ 24 , 000 to the charity chosen by the winner of the competition . Zdeno Chara won the event , with a record 105 . 4 MPH shot ( eclipsing Al Iafrate , who had set the record the last time the All - Star game was in Montreal ) . The Elimination Shootout involved all 40 skaters ( but only four of the six goaltenders - leaving Roberto Luongo as the only player to not participate in any of the skills events ) , with the goaltenders being able to choose which skaters they will face off against . The field was narrowed from 40 to just 12 after one round , and Shane Doan eventually outlasted Marc Savard after 7 rounds ( including two rounds in which none of the three remaining players — Doan , Savard , nor Milan Hejduk — scored ) . YoungStars Game . For the first time , the YoungStars game , part of the the Skills Competition featured a three - on - three rookies versus sophomores format , consisting of three six - minute periods with the clock stopping only within the last minute of each game . [ 4 ] Coaching the rookies was Luc Robitaille and for the sophomores was Pete Mahovlich . Unlike last year , YoungStars goaltenders have been named , though sophomore goaltender Carey Price volunteered to do double duty after Erik Ersberg withdrew from the game due to injury . The game saw rookie goaltender Pekka Rinne ( who replaced Steve Mason ) make 20 saves in a 9 - 5 victory for the rookies . Rookie Blake Wheeler was named the MVP of the YoungStars game after scoring four goals . Rosters . Final Score Absentee punishment . Due to a growing number of otherwise healthy players choosing to skip the All - Star Game to ' rest ' , the NHL began to enforce the understanding that players that are named to the All - Star Game must participate in some capacity . Those who choose not to participate must miss a game , either before the All - Star game or after . Players named to the YoungStars game will not be subject to this policy , as their consent is required for participation . Thus , due to Red Wings players Pavel Datsyuk and Nicklas Lidström having declined to attend the festivities due to injury , they will be forced to miss one game . Sidney Crosby , who was also ruled out due to injury , participated in off - ice activities and will not be forced to miss a game . Rosters . Fan voting for the All - Star Game starting line - up was closed on January 2 , 2009 . The rosters were announced on January 3 by retired Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame player Jean Béliveau , who played in 13 All - Star games during his career . Notes . Note W1 : Nicklas Lidström was named to the Western Conference All - Star Team , but chose not to play . Stéphane Robidas was named as his replacement . [ 10 ] Note W2 : Pavel Datsyuk was named to the Western Conference All - Star Team , but was unable to play due to injury . Patrick Marleau was named as his replacement . [ 10 ] Note E1 : Sidney Crosby was voted into the starting lineup for the Eastern Conference All - Star Team , but was unable to play due to injury . Martin St . Louis was named as his replacement on the roster and Vincent Lecavalier as his replacement in the starting lineup . Box Score . Final Score