RALEIGH–Florida ended their four-game road trip with their third win of the journey in defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 2-0 Friday night. Roberto Luongo collected his 70th career shutout in turning aside 24 Carolina shots. The Panthers (17-12-4-36) have won nine of their last 12 games and seven of their last nine on the road and have ascended into the eight position, good for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
Both teams were on good scoring runs coming into the game but a tentative first period by both teams resulted in only five shots each. This continued on into an equally forgettable second period as the teams seemed more interested in preventing goals rather than trying to score them.
The Panthers finally scored in the third period when Jonathon Huberdeau gained his 15th assist on the season when he saw defenseman Willie Mitchell dashing to a spot between the circles. The veteran defenseman found the upper right corner to end a personal 36-game scoring drought. Reilly Smith added his team-leading 11th goal of the season into the empty net in the final minute after Carolina pulled goalie Cam Ward.
Highlights, limited as they are, from NHL.com:
http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?hlg=20152016,2,479&navid=sb:highlights
Report on the game from Czech newspaper (for our many Czech readers, thank you!)
The Panthers host the Vancouver Canucks Sunday, Dec. 20 for the first game of a six-game, 15-day homestand that will keep them in South Florida through Jan 3. Other exciting opponents coming to BB&T Center include: Dec. 22 Ottawa: Dec. 27 Columbus; Dec. 29 Montreal; Jan. 2 New York Rangers and Jan. 3, 2016 Minnesota. Holiday gift packages still available as well as other ticket options for Panthers home games available at http://www.floridapanthers.com.
#CHASINGGORDIE1850 No points on this night for Jaromir Jagr, but he was on the ice for the Mitchell goal and can save his next milestones for the home fans at the BB&T center, where the Panthers will play their next six games, through Jan. 3. The Jagr-O-Meter shows milestones the legend can reach during the homestand.
Updated Atlantic Division Standings
Not a lot on the net today, but the @68Jagr twitter account received a mention as a top social media star of the NHL.
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, but worth the wait. Jagr has been more active on Twitter this season.
The two best Jagr facebook pages are:
https://www.facebook.com/68Jagr/?fref=ts
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.
@KrRutherford Kristina Rutherford wrote a great article for Canada’s sportsnet magazine.
Nigel Buchanan, whose superhero treatment of Jagr in his art for sportsnet magazine is one of the many efforts he has on display at http://www.nigelbuchanan.com.
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 