SUNRISE, FL–Behind a Rick Nash hat trick, which included the game winner in overtime, the New York Rangers defeated the Florida Panthers 5-4 Saturday night at BB&T Center.
The Rangers (15-3-2) never trailed but the Panthers (8-8-4) kept rallying and scoring goals against the NHL’s best team. In addition to Nash, the Rangers got goals from Mats Zuccarello and Viktor Stalberg. The latter goal, with under eight minutes to play, staked New York to a two-goal lead, usually a comfortable lead at that point in the game.
After a few minutes recovering from that shock, the Panthers applied relentless pressure that enabled them to outshoot the Rangers 43-31 for the game and setting the stage for some more third period heroics. With FLA goalie Roberto Luongo pulled, the Panthers enjoyed a two-man advantage following a penalty to the Rangers. After several good attempts Aleksander Barkov scored his fifth of the season at 17:32.
Luongo was also on the bench 49 seconds later when Jaromir Jagr scored his team-leading eight goal of the season with a high shot into the right corner. The tying goal came only seconds after Jagr hit a crossbar that could be heard the whole way to New York. It was Jagr’s 730th career goal, one behind Marcel Dionne’s fourth all-time total of 731.
Aaron Ekblad had assists on the Barkov and Jagr goals, while Jonathon Huberdeau assisted on the Barkov goal. Barkov grabbed an assist on the Jagr goal with a beautiful across the circles pass. Earlier in the game Nick Bjugstad and Jussi Jokinen tied the game after Nash’s first two goals.
Highlights from NHL.com can be seen here:
http://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/en/recap?id=2015020296&navid=sb:recap&intcmpid=sb-highlights
Meanwhile the #ChaseFor1850 continues with the Updated Jagr-O-Meter
The four teams ahead of the Panthers won their games as seven Atlantic Division teams were in action:
An assessment of the Panthers through 20 games will come later Sunday. In the mean time, enjoy this article from the New York Daily News:
http://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/en/recap?id=2015020296&navid=sb:recap&intcmpid=sb-highlights
If you missed out on the camo jersey auction, the latest creation from fanprint.com may intrigue you:
As mentioned before, a 20-game assessment of Jagr and the Panthers will be released later Sunday.
Assorted Jagr-related links:
Florida Panthers 2015-16 Media Guide
http://panthers.nhl.com/v2/ext/Florida201516MediaGuide_web.pdf
Florida Panthers Team website: http://www.floridapanthers.com
Some Jagr-related social media accounts:
@68Jagr This is the real site, the one and only official Jaromir Jagr twitter account. Postings are rare.
The two best Jagr facebook pages are: https://www.facebook.com/68Jagr/ This is the page Jagr posts on, if he is going to post at all.
Another good facebook page is one produced by someone in the Czech Republic. It has more than 100,000 likes. This is not the official page, but it is very good.
https://www.facebook.com/JaromirJagrfan/?fref=nf
@FlaPanthers and @FLAPanthersPR The official twitter accounts for news about the team.
@dougielarge Doug Cifu, few owners in sports relate to the fans as much as this man who interacts with fans and media on twitter.
@goldieonice — Steve Goldstein, TV play-by-play of the Panthers. Brings all those exciting highlights to life.
@DenisPotvinFox — NHL Hall of Famer Denis Potvin works along side Goldstein in the booth.
@HeyRedDeer color man Randy Moller who left the radio booth to help Goldstein and Potvin on TV.
@GeorgeRichards Panthers beat writer for the Miami Herald.
@HFialkov Panthers beat writer for the Sun Sentinel
@AntwanStaley Includes Panthers coverage in his all sports all the time reports
@Cats0ntheprowl twitter for Cats On the Prowl, offering detailed reviews of Panthers games and more.
@SunshineSkate twitter for The Sunshine Skate, another blog with special emphasis on advanced stats and charts that will make you dizzy.
@Zdenek_Janda US-based Czech reporter who covers the NHL and reports on other news for the people of the Czech Republic.
@Jsmidcro Jan Smid was a US-based Czech reporter who collaborated on “Jagr”, an autobiography in the late 90’s detailing Jagr’s early life and career in the NHL.
@NHLHistoryGirl This hockey loving woman shares interesting informational tidbits about hockey and the NHL in general. How does she do it?
@MyRegularFace She’s another gem. Watches lots of games and gets up GIFs faster than nhl.com or anyone else out there.
Quant Hockey: Career stats updated game by game by a hockey lover in Europe. Site enables you to find career leaders in any offensive category by clicking on the category you are researching.
http://www.quanthockey.com/nhl/records/nhl-players-all-time-points-leaders.html
@rytiriKladno The Kladno Hockey Club: Before coming to the NHL Jagr played for this team in the Czech league as a teenager. Now he owns the team. It’s in Czech but some devices can translate to English. Follow them at:
@HockeyCzech National organization for hockey in the Czech Republic.
@68isgr8 is the twitter for The Traveling Jagrs. Clad in different Jagr jerseys and hair styles from 68’s career, they gained league-wide recognition when they caught Jagr’s attention during a pre-game skate of a Dallas Stars game in Canada during the 2012-2013 season. Since then, they convene at games in Western Canada and make a road trip or two every year, playing street hockey with locals, posing for hundreds of pictures, and having a good time with fans while honoring an all-time NHL legend.
https://twitter.com/search?q=traveling%20jagrs&src=savs.
Ray Haluska aka Kladno Jagr, curator of the Jagr-O-Meter
jagrometer 