Crosby tops voting for second straight year

NEW YORK – Sidney 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 on Jan. 27 in Atlanta, the league announced Tuesday.

The Pittsburgh captain received 507,274 votes, about 30,000 more than West leader Nicklas Lidstrom.

Detroit placed three players in the All-Star starting lineup.

Lidstrom, a defenseman, will join Red Wings teammates Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk in the Western starting lineup, along with Calgary’s Dion Phaneuf and Jarome Iginla and Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo.

Crosby will start with Vincent Lecavalier of Tampa Bay and Ottawa’s Daniel Alfredsson.

On Eastern’s defense will be Andrei Markov of Montreal and Boston’s Zdeno Chara. New Jersey goalie Martin Brodeur was elected for the fourth time.