A mixed night for local stars

A game featuring 22 goals during regulation isn’t the kind of contest Ducks goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere prefers.

Giguere found himself as the first-period target of a talented Eastern Conference in its 12-11 shootout victory over the Western Conference in the 2009 NHL All-Star game at the Bell Centre on Sunday night.

“The game is not a goalie’s game for sure,” said Giguere, who was playing in his first All-Star game. “It’s a little difficult. I’m not a goalie who likes that type of game. I like when it’s intense and kind of straight up and down, but it was fun. It was a good experience. I’ll never forget it.”

Giguere gave up goals to Washington’s Alex Ovechkin, Carolina’s Eric Staal and Montreal’s Alex Kovalev and Andrei Markov before yielding to Minnesota goaltender Niklas Backstrom to start the second.

“It was a great weekend,” Giguere said. “It was a lot of fun to share this with my family. To come to Montreal and do this with this great organization, the Canadiens, we had a great time.”

For Ducks teammate Ryan Getzlaf, however, the pace of Sunday’s game fit well for the center who is fifth in the NHL in scoring.

“That’s the way it was supposed to be -- it’s an All-Star game,” said Getzlaf, who didn’t record a shot on goal but had one assist in 17:49 of ice time. “It’s fun to get out there and play with the talented players and just be able to move the puck around and let the fans enjoy it.”

Ducks veteran Scott Niedermayer made his fifth All-Star appearance and came away most impressed with Montreal’s celebration of its 100th season.

“It’s neat being here in Montreal,” said Niedermayer, who had no shots on goal and one assist. “That’s sort of what stands out. The excitement here, the history and everything that goes along with it.”

The Kings’ Dustin Brown recorded a point in his All-Star game debut when he assisted on a goal by Shane Doan of the Phoenix Coyotes early in the third period.

Brown finished with two shots on goal in 14:11.

“It’s always fun playing in these types of games,” Brown said. “This is my first one at this level and it’s a lot bigger stage and I’m really taking it all in. Being around some of these players that I grew up watching is pretty cool.”

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ckuc@tribune.com