GAME 68: @FLAPanthers 5-@NHLFlyers 4 (SO); Smith two goals, Jagr two assists, Barkov clinches shootout victory

 

SUNRISE–The pre-game skate is a serious time for Jaromir Jagr. Making sure the skates feel right. Rotating through the four sticks he meticulously prepared for that game. Stretching by the boards at the blue line. Silently, intently, skating and stickhandling through teammates in the neutral zone. All done very seriously in a private world of meditation.
It was a little different Saturday night.
The last Panther on the ice received a  raucous welcome from the 100+ fans from his country, many in Czech Republic national team jerseys,as he took to the ice for the pre-game skate. And he smiled,  a smile of pride that only THE  national hero of a small country  of 10.5 million people can feel thousands of miles from home. It is a moment that few people on earth can experience as Czech citizens wear their nation’s flag like a superhero wears a cape.
At least 80 were from a Czech orchestra, others were groups of fans ranging from couples, parents and their children and the rowdy group of 25. Sitting near them is an experience. They exort the players in a strange language to English-speaking people. It is certainly done with the passion understood only by sports fans.
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(Nearly a half-hour after the game members of the Czech delegation were still cheering for Jagr and the Florida Panthers).
On this sold out Saturday night at the BB&T Center, two teams battled hard for 60 minutes in a game that lead changes on each of eight goals scored. Reilly Smith scored two goals for Florida. While not scoring any goals, Jagr did have two assists, one which will be added to the highlight reels of Jagr’s greatest plays. Buying time with a player on his back then backhanding a blind pass to the slot which Jonathon Huberdeau buried. The other assist was a secondary helper on a power play goal scored by Aleksander Barkov, which boosted Jagr’s season totals to 23 goals, 30 assists and 53 points to add to his career total of 1855 points.
In the end, the Panthers defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 5-4, thanks to great penalty killing in overtime, and shootout goals by Nick Bjugstad and Barkov. Florida  goalie Roberto Luongo saved his best for the shootout as he smoothly strung together two nice saves to enable Florida to claim the victory.
 
JagrFlyersScoring for the Flyers were Nick Cousins, Ryan White, Michael Raffl and Florida native, Shayne Gotisbehere, whose 15th goal of the season kept intact his streak of scoring goals that matter as all have been game winners or game tying goals. The exciting video from NHL.com can be viewed here…
https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/phi-vs-fla/2016/03/12/2015021023#game=2015021023,game_state=final
Fox Sports Florida shared some of Jagr’s post-game comments in this video…
http://www.foxsports.com/florida
Before the game Jagr smiled. During and after the win his countrymen again were able to robustly chant his name.
Hoping to meet Jagr after the game, some Czechs were there until midnight. Did he sneak out some other door? Not his style. The answer is found on Jagr’s facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/68Jagr/?fref=ts
With the win Florida recovered from a horrible 1-3-1 road trip with a 2-0-1 homestand and prepare for three games on the road with stops in Brooklyn to play the New York Islanders Monday, Montreal Tuesday and Toronto Thursday, before returning to BB&T Center Saturday, March 19 to host Detroit. Tickets for Panthers home games can be secured through panthers.nhl.com.
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Updated Jagr-O-Meter…
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Updated Standings. With four Florida games in six nights, Florida’s fate could be heavily influenced by the outcome of this week’s games.
Expanded Atlantic Division Standings

Assorted Jagr-related links:

Thanks for visiting JAGRometer.com, home of the Jagr-O-Meter, tracking Jaromir Jagr since he returned to the NHL from Russia. Subscribe free and get the latest edition as soon as it is released.  Please share with your friends.

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.

The article was shared by Sportsnet on Dec. 20, 2015.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/big-read-the-oral-history-of-jaromir-jagr/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

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:

https://twitter.com/RytiriKladno

@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.

https://jagrometer.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/dsc_0335.jpg

Ray Haluska aka Kladno Jagr, curator of the Jagr-O-Meter

https://twitter.com/CruisingRay or email ROKINRAY@AOL.COM

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