Penguins’ Sid Crosby tops in All-Star votes

NEW YORK (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings dominated the first half of the NHL season. Now they’re taking over the All-Star game, too.

Sidney Crosby is starting to do the same.

Crosby, the 20-year-old reigning NHL MVP, topped All-Star voting for the second straight year and will start again for the Eastern Conference, the league announced Tuesday.

The Pittsburgh Penguins captain, in his third NHL season, received 507,274 votes, nearly 200,000 more than anyone else in the East, and about 30,000 more than West leader Nicklas Lidstrom.

His linemates in Atlanta will be current scoring leader Vincent Lecavalier of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators right winger Daniel Alfredsson, who both will be making their first All-Star starts. Lecavalier is going to his third All-Star game, while Alfredsson will play in his fifth.

Detroit placed three players in the starting lineup. Lidstrom, a five-time Norris Trophy-winning defenseman, will join Red Wings teammates Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk in the Western Conference starting lineup Jan. 27 in Atlanta.

Lidstrom, who received 477,787 votes, will partner with Calgary Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf on the blue line while Jarome Iginla — also of the Flames — plays up front with Zetterberg and Datsyuk.

Zetterberg and Datsyuk are among eight first-time All-Star starters. Iginla and Phaneuf, who have helped Calgary take over first place in the Northwest Division, are also set to make their initial starts in the midseason game.

Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo got the starting nod in goal for the West.

On defense will be fellow first-time starters Andrei Markov of the Montreal Canadiens and Boston’s Zdeno Chara. Markov is the only starter making his first All-Star appearance. Chara is going for the third time.

New Jersey goalie Martin Brodeur was elected for the fourth time and will take part in his 10th All-Star game, tying Lidstrom for the most among this year’s starters. Lidstrom is in the starting lineup for the eighth time.

Surprisingly, the league’s top two goal scorers, Ilya Kovalchuk of the Atlanta Thrashers (34 goals) and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin — tied with Iginla with 32 — weren’t elected to start for the East. Ovechkin was fifth in votes among forwards with 177,574, while Kovalchuk came in sixth with 173,629.