BUFFALO–The first-place Florida Panthers had six different goal scorers in collecting a 7-4 victory over the Buffalo Sabres Tuesday night. The victory coupled with losses by Tampa Bay and Boston, plus idle Detroit, meant the Panthers gained two more points on their closest division rivals in raising their record to 32-16-6 for 70 points.
The Panthers played without top line center Aleksander Barkov who was injured in the second period of Florida’s loss to Detroit Monday night at Joe Louis Arena. Those two teams will play again Saturday night at BB&T Center, the second game of a six-game homestand that starts Friday night with St. Louis. Tickets for those and all Florida home games can be purchased through panthers.nhl.com.
It was a good night for Panthers right wing Jaromir Jagr. He scored his 17th goal of the season, to match his full-season total from last season and raised his career total to 739, two behind Brett Hull, who ended his Hall of Fame career as the NHL’s third all time leading goal scorer with 741.
Highlights of the high scoring game can be seen here, courtesy of NHL.com
Jagr’s goal was the sixth by Florida that also saw Reilly Smith find the net for goals 17 and 18. Smith also had an assist for a three-point night. Jussi Jokinen and Brandon Pirri each scored their 11th, Alex Petrovic notched his 2nd and Brain Campbell scored his 5th.
Updated Jagr-O-Meter:
The outcomes of Tuesday’s games enabled Florida to extend their lead to eight points over Tampa Bay, Boston and Detroit.
MORE JAGR NEWS:
When Jaromir Jagr returned from three-years of self-imposed exile in the NHL, for which he was rewarded, the days leading up to free agency led to widespread speculation as to where he would play the 2011-2012 season.
Some members of the Pittsburgh media were so certain he was coming to the Penguins that they staked out the airport while other teams were also in the mix. One offered $6 million per season. The Penguins offered $2.1 million, which was less than they offered hall-of-scrub forward Tyler Kennedy. The Flyers eventually won the Jagr sweepstakes for $3.1 million, and it helped develop the careers of Jakub Voraceck, Claude Giroux and Scott Hartnell, to name a few. Another team also was in the running. Like the Penguins, the Detroit Red Wings pulled their offer off the table, estimated at $2.5 million, before the free agent frenzy that day in the summer of 2011.
A Detroit news columnist wrote against that happening at the time and spoke to Jagr before Monday’s game between the Florida Panthers and the Detroit Red Wings.
Interesting reading, and Jagr even suggests that Peyton Manning continue playing if he can accept not being the top dog anymore.
More from Jagr on Manning:
http://espn.go.com/blog/nhl/post/_/id/40842/jaromir-jagr-says-peyton-manning-shouldnt-retire
It’s been a fascinating five seasons in Jagr’s post-NHL career. Even Wayne Gretzky has taken notice:
Gretzky on Jagr: I hope he plays another 3 or 4 years, but I’m going to steal his skates if he starts getting close to some of my records.”
Another great tweet:
Asked Jagr if Huberdeau’s pass to him reminded him of anybody else. “Yeah… Me!” #JagrForever
For our Czech readers, one you won’t have to translate:
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:
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.
The article was shared by Sportsnet on Dec. 20, 2015.
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 