Lindros Gets All-Star Start

The NHL today named Philadelphia Flyers center Eric Lindros to start for the injured Steve Yzerman in Sunday's NHL All-Star Game in Tampa.

The league today also added Los Angeles Kings left wing Luc Robitaille and Ottawa Senators goaltender Ron Tugnutt to the North America All-Star team.

Robitaille replaces Yzerman, who sustained a facial injury in Thursday night's game against Carolina. Tugnutt will fill in for Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Curtis Joseph, who suffered a groin injury in Thursday night's game against St. Louis.

The selections were made by the NHL's hockey operations department, after consultation with league general managers.

Lindros will be making his third career All-Star Game start, having been elected in fan balloting to start the 1994 and 1998 games. He is second in the NHL scoring race with 59 points, including 26 goals, in 42 games, and ranks second overall in plus-minus with a plus-28.

Lindros will center starting wings Paul Kariya of Anaheim and Brendan Shanahan of Detroit with Ray Bourque of Boston and Al MacInnis of St. Louis on defense and Martin Brodeur of New Jersey in goal.

Robitaille, in his 13th season, will be appearing in his seventh All-Star Game. He is third in the league with 25 goals and leads the Kings with 44 points. On January 7th, Robitaille became the 27th player in NHL history to reach 500 career goals.

Tugnutt, in his 11th season, will be making his All-Star debut. He has a 13-5-4 record in 24 games with the Senators, leading the league with a 1.63 goals-against average and ranking second to Buffalo's Dominik Hasek in save percentage (.933).

Florida Panthers center Viktor Kozlov had to withdraw from the World All-Star team due to a shoulder injury suffered Wednesday night against the New York Islanders. Dallas Stars right wing Jere Lehtinen was invited to replace Kozlov on the roster, but was unable to change a prior commitment.

This is the second straight year in which the NHL will use the international format at the All-Star Game. Last season, to build omentum for the Nagano Olympics, the league shifted away from its traditional Eastern Conference-Western Conference format.

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