Boyle soaks in All-Star Game

TAMPA - Philadelphia Flyers forward Claude Giroux was trying to pass.
Looking over his shoulder as he moved up the ice, he wanted to see if New Jersey Devils forward Brian Boyle was trailing him. Giroux wanted to dish it off, wanted to give the goal away, but he couldn't quite make it work, and instead scored the second goal for the Metropolitan Division in the second semifinal at the 2018 Honda NHL All-Star Game at Amalie Arena on Sunday.

"I wanted to pass it so bad," Giroux said. "But I couldn't. I saw Boyle] coming pretty hard there, and I was going to wait to see if he could beat him to that far post, but also just trying to surprise the goalie. He's pretty good."
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Boyle wouldn't get another chance as good as that one at 7:43 of the first period and would finish the day without a point as the Metropolitan lost against the Atlantic Division, 7-4.
It didn't matter, though, scoring wasn't the point.
"I wanted him to have the puck," Boyle said. "I was happy he was shooting. He kept trying to feed me."

For Boyle, 33, this was a weekend like no other, playing in his first NHL All-Star Game as a replacement for Devils teammate Taylor Hall just months after being diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia in September.
He got the biggest ovations all weekend. He got the love and the support from his teammates, his opponents, and a crowd that remembered him fondly for his playing days with the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2014-17.
"To me, this is what our game is, not only the great skill level and all that," Metropolitan coach Barry Trotz said. "What makes our League really special is some of the stories and the people in the game that are dealing with different things. But they're such quality people and they deal with it in such a high-quality way that leaves a lasting memory, and it teaches the next generation the proper way to be as not only hockey players, but just humans in general."
Boyle isn't one for collecting memorabilia from his career. That's not his style. But he will take a few pieces of this weekend back home with him: There are the trinkets given to him, the jersey, and the videos that his wife sent from Boston where Boyle's two-year-old son Declan, who was at Boston Children's Hospital for a flare-up of an arteriovenous malformation in his jaw, was watching his father play.

"I've tried to soak it all in," Boyle said.
So what wasn't he expecting from the weekend?
"This much attention," he said.
"It's been fun. It's been really, really fun," Boyle said. "I play against these guys. I know how good they are. The ovations, the support, it's been incredible. I didn't really expect it to be like this. I came here, tried to enjoy it, and it's been sometimes better than I thought it could ever be."