SUNRISE–There were all kinds of historically challenging scenarios facing the Florida Panthers if they had dropped the second straight game at home to start an NHL playoff series.
Those go out the window as the Panthers took a 3-1 decision over the New York Islanders that saw them enter the third period with a 2-0 lead and hold on the win Friday night at BB&T Center. The series shifts to Brooklyn for game 3 Sunday and game 4 Wednesday, before returning to BB&T for Game 5.
Roberto Luongo stopped 41 of 42 shots to rebound from a subpar performance in Game 1 where the Panthers netminder surrendered 5 goals on 25 shots. Unlike the last meeting between the two teams where the Islanders erased a two-goal Panthers lead in the final 10 minutes to lose, Florida held on for victory this time.
Reilly Smith scored his third goal in two playoff games, while Nick Bjugstad scored what became the winning goal. Dimitry Kulikov scored an empty net goal with 10 seconds remaining. John Tavares scored his second goal of the series to go with two assists for the Islanders.
Highlights of the game can be seen here. The game was telecast on NHL Network, an obscure cable channel rather than any of the normal stations the game could be watched out of market.
https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/nyi-vs-fla/2016/04/15/2015030112#game=2015030112,game_state=final
The Panthers top line of Aleksander Barkov, Jonathon Huberdeau and Jaromir Jagr were held without a goal for the second game in a row even though they collectively took 14 shots on goal, a little less than half of the 31 shots the Panthers took tonight. It was the second game in a row where the trio had more than 13 shots on goal yet managed not to score off Islanders’ goalie Thomas Greiss.
Without highlights we have pictures of Jagr from Friday night’s game from NHL.com. Click to enlarge.
As we wait for our first update for the playoff version of the Jagr-O-Meter, take comfort in his historical dominance of the New York Islanders.
http://www.finenotes.com/jaromir-jagr-vs-islanders-a-long-point-filled-history/
The Jagr-O-Meter shows Jagr on the verge of climbing a few steps with a few points.
Another look at the Jagr and the Florida Panthers from Sports Illustrated.
http://www.si.com/nhl/2016/04/15/florida-panthers-jaromir-jagr-playoffs-notes
We’ll see what game 3 brings as…
The legend continues…
Assorted Jagr-related links:
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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.
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 