Young guns Crosby, Ovechkin ready to light up All-Star game

TORONTO (Reuters) - Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin, two of the NHL's brightest young talents, will put their rivalry aside for the night when they team up for the East against the West in the All-Star game in Dallas on Wednesday.

Pittsburgh's Crosby and Washington's Ovechkin headline the first All-Star game in three seasons after last year's showcase was scrapped due to the Turin Olympics and the 2005 contest was a casualty of a labor dispute that wiped out an entire season.

When the NHL's top players last gathered for the All-Star game in 2004 in Minnesota, Crosby was just 16-years-old and playing junior hockey with the Rimouski Oceanic.

Three years later, the Penguins forward is the NHL's leading scorer and, judging by the voting, its most popular player.

Crosby received a league-leading 825,783 ballots to become the youngest player at 19-years, five months voted to start the All-Star game since fan balloting began in 1986.

Crosby heads into the game atop the scoring table with 69 points (23 goals, 46 assists), five points clear of Ovechkin, who beat him for top rookie honors last season.

The Penguins center took the lead in the scoring race with a six-point night on December 13 against Philadelphia and has stayed on top since, joining Wayne Gretzky as just the second teenager in the league's modern era to hold the NHL points lead.

CREDENTIALS

There is also no disputing Ovechkin's All-Star credentials, the Russian underlining his status as one the league's best snipers with 29 goals to sit just one off the lead.

"Playing with Ovechkin will be a lot of fun," said Crosby during a conference call on Friday. "Obviously playing with a guy who can shoot the puck like that you want to get it to him. I'll be doing my best to get him the puck and let him rip it."

The prospect of Crosby and Ovechkin working their wizardry on the same line is expected to be the highlight of an All-Star game that is little more than an exhibition contest.

While there will be nothing riding on the game, the NHL has gone to great efforts to market and promote the contest as it tries to woo back fans still bitter about the work stoppage.

"As far as competitiveness of the game goes, I think it's fun for everyone to see a lot of nice goals," said Crosby.

"I think the more goals the better. It's a game full of a lot of skill and as a fan you want to see that.

"They want to see guys have fun out there be creative and I think that's the whole point."