Portage County Gazette

Plover native Joe Pavelski of the San Jose Sharks finished with two assists in the 2019 NHL All-Star Game at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 26.

In the 3-on-3 tournament format, Pavelski played for the Pacific Division All-Stars, which lost 10-4 to the Central Division All-Stars in the All-Star Game Semifinals.

In his 13th season in the NHL, all with San Jose, Pavelski played in front of his home fans on All-Star Weekend, and won the opening faceoff to start the semifinal matchup against the Central Division.

However, the Central Division scored goals on seven of the first nine shots they took in the first period to build a 7-1 lead after the first of two periods.

The Central Division scored three goals in the first 4:36 of the second period to build a 10-1 lead, and after a goal from Johnny Gaudreau of the Calgary Flames 11 seconds later made it 10-2, Pavelski assisted on a goal from San Jose teammate Erik Karlsson with 4:08 left in the second period, and 10 seconds later assisted on a goal from San Jose teammate Brent Burns to provide the final margin in the Pacific Division’s 10-4 loss.

The Metropolitan Division All-Stars followed with a 7-4 win over the Atlantic Division All-Stars, then went on to beat the Central Division 10-5 later Saturday night to win the All-Star Game.

It was the third All-Star Game appearance for Pavelski, who also competed in the Accuracy Shooting competition as part of the NHL All-Star Skills Competition Friday, Jan. 25.

Pavelski finished fourth in accuracy shooting with a time of 14.423 seconds, while David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins won the event in 11.309 seconds.

“I just think for this weekend to come to San Jose, it’s just a celebration of a lot of great players coming together with the game,” Pavelski said to NHL.com. “It’s fun playing in the city you play for.

“Every time our names got announced or we stepped on the ice, you could hear the little extra roars,” he said. “So it was pretty cool to be a part of.”

Pavelski capped the weekend by being named one of the NHL’s “3 Stars of the Week,” along with Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby and Minnesota Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk.

Crosby was named the First Star after he earned All-Star Game MVP honors, while Pavelski was the Second Star, after he finished with one goal and four assists in two games last week, before his two-assist performance in the All-Star Game.

Pavelski is ninth in the NHL this season with 27 goals, while he also has 18 assists and 45 points for San Jose, which is in second place in the Pacific Division (29-16-7, 65 points).