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NHL ALL-STAR WEEKEND

January 27, 2008

Jarome Iginla

ATLANTA, GEORGIA

JAROME IGINLA: Yeah, it was probably the quickest one I've played in to date. It was a close game and, the guys weren't giving up any easy goals. You could see that guys were trying to make two on twos. And we wanted to beat the East and vice versa. It was a good game. But you know, there were some real nice goals, too. The tic tac toe and all that stuff. It was enjoyable getting to have a chance to get a goal yourself.

Q. You did get an assist?
JAROME IGINLA: Yeah, I saw that. Last time I was minus four one game.

Q. And your buddy over there, we kept looking up and there he was.
JAROME IGINLA: Yeah, saw that a lot. He's showing the way. I've got to go just down in the crease. But he definitely burned a lot of calories going up and back the whole way.

Q. How come your line mate didn't get in there?
JAROME IGINLA: Yeah, I thought, I mean the highlight goals. He got one. He set a record on the first one, right? And the next two were the breakaway goals. I was hoping he was going to get it. I guess not winning the game, you know, it factors in, but I had a heck of a game. And that is another fun goal. It was fun playing with a player like that and not feeling like an anchor over them.

Q. (Indiscernible)?
JAROME IGINLA: Looking forward to a lot. It's usually the most fun time after the regular season, right after the All-Star break. It's a lot of games in a few nights. The standings are so tight. And everyone's in the same boat. Everyone plays a lot of games. Everyone's usually around even in the games played. So that last big push will separate the teams right now.

Q. Was it a lot of fun playing?
JAROME IGINLA: It was a lot of fun. It was a good pace out there. Guys were back-checking. Guys were working not to give up any easy goals. The goalies played great. Nabokov was unbelievable. There were some highlight goals, tic tac toe, which is the most fun and the best game I've played in yet.

Q. When you play among the elite, is there an element where it's not that you don't want to embarrass yourself, but you want to prove yourself a little bit. You want to show the other players something about you?
JAROME IGINLA: It's competitiveness. We're all competitive here. Your line goes up against another line. And you don't want to get a goal for them. And you're trying to score as many at the line. And you know, tonight you could see that. It was competitive. We were down 5-1. We were trying to get some shots and look up later, and it's like 50-plus shots.
Once you get into that atmosphere, especially you could see the young guys were really fired up. It was competitive.

Q. You had to know 12 seconds in that Rick might be hot?
JAROME IGINLA: Oh, yeah, that was a good way to start the game. I heard there was a record. And the next two goals those are highlight goals on that stage to do them. I was hoping we'd win that one and he'd get the MVP, but unfortunately we didn't win it.

Q. The two goals that Kovalchuk made had the guys on the bench pretty fired up?
JAROME IGINLA: Oh, yeah, that was a fun series. Kovalchuk was all over it tonight and had some great chances. And Nabokov was on fire. It's funny with the scoring stuff, people wonder. We wanted to win. We wanted to get back in it. And we did that. Great goaltending, and it was competitive.

Q. It's fun to watch somebody else get stoned instead of you, right?
JAROME IGINLA: Always, always. You never hope it's you.
Yeah, no, there were a lot of good chances and good shots. The goalies played really well.

Q. So you sense that is the game the NHL is after, and probably the players. It's not intense, but you want to put on a show. And I thought you guys kind of found that happening out there?
JAROME IGINLA: Yeah, I thought it was pretty quick. You know, off the first period after that, I thought it got more competitive. We brought ourselves back and were in the lead. They weren't happy about it. And you could see it differently.
There was a lot of good flow and good speed. Nobody wanted to give anybody any easy goals. Guys weren't moving out of the way or not backchecking, it was good. That's what we wanted. We wanted it to be competitive.

Q. Can you talk about the showcase aspect of this game and how it's important to the league?
JAROME IGINLA: Well, yeah, the league has a lot of talent right now. They always do. But it's a real nice wave of young players coming in. You could see it tonight. Every year there seems to be more and more guys that are ready to step right in. You know, it's something that the speed of the game has gotten to play the game, it's a lot more enjoyable. It's always fun, but I think the speed and the lack of hooking and all of that has really improved the game.
To watch it I find is more fun, too.

End of FastScripts

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