All-star MVP Scott named NHL first star

The Pacific Division won the All-Star tournament by beating the Atlantic 1-0 in the 20-minute championship game.

John Scott, who signed his first professional hockey contract with the Houston Aeros, scored two goals and was selected as the game’s MVP at the 2016 NHL All-Star Game in Nashville.

John Scott emerged from the 2016 NHL All-Star weekend as its biggest victor. National Hockey League officials apparently feared ridicule to honour a player with a mere five goals in 285 games with six teams and a recent trade to a seventh, the Montreal Canadiens, that sent him to his current club, the developmental St. John’s IceCaps in distant Newfoundland.

The people spoke up for Scott once again Sunday night, making the career journeyman enforcer an All-Star MVP as a write-in candidate after voting him into the new 3-on-3 All-Star tournament as captain of the Pacific Division.

Then they made him the game MVP.

The 6-foot-8, 260-pound forward was hoisted onto the shoulders of his teammates while the fans chanted “M-V-P!”

“It worked out for everybody”, Scott said.

Despite the league’s best effort to keep him from the game, including trading him to Montreal and sending him down to the minors, and even allegedly telling him his kids would be embarrassed to see him play, Scott skated this weekend.

He also knocked down star Patrick Kane, before the pair feigned a fight. Two more goals by Taylor Hall and another by Daniel Sedin put the Pacific up 7-3. There were still plenty of chances each way, but the intensity felt more like an actual game than any previous year when the game was 5-on-5.

In Sunday’s semifinal, he scored a pair of goals to spark the Pacific past the Central, 9-6.

AGELESS WONDER: Atlantic Division coach Gerard Gallant had at least one easy choice for his starting lineup in the first game of the three-game tournament. Ryan O’Reilly assisted Aaron Ekblad’s goal in the first game, where the Atlantic defeated the Metropolitan 4-3 to advance to the final. John Scott became the sole reason to watch the game, and, with his family in attendance, he put on a show.

Doughty and his teammates quickly left for a flight to Los Angeles for practice Monday and a game at Arizona on Tuesday, but Scott isn’t sure what’s next for him besides the imminent birth of twins to him and his wife, Danielle.

The trio combined for the first goal of the game for the Pacific and it sparked quite the celebration from Scott who made sure to enjoy every second of his experience in Nashville. “As we were moving the puck around and having fun it was pretty fun to play”, said forward Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers and the Metropolitan Division.

Scott added a second goal at 13:27 as Burns sprung him on a breakaway down the middle.

A late addition to the weekend, Neal reiterated his affection for Preds fans and the city of Nashville embracing him since his arrival in the summer of 2014.

“I hope this opens some doors”, he said.