CHICAGO–The sting of a quick strike, three-goals in a matter of minutes Sunday night put the Florida Panthers on the losing end of a 3-2 game and was the final straw for team management who announced to the team and coach Gerald Gallant afterward that he was dismissed.
Lost in the shuffle was the 2-0 lead the Panthers built in the first period in what new Coach and former GM Thomas Rowe called the team’s best of the season. Jon Marchessault scored his team leading goal 10th goal of the season and Aaron Ekblad his sixth. Aleksander Barkov assisted on both goals and while he has not scored since the second game of the season, Barkov has found success setting up teammates and has recorded a team leading 12 assists among his 14 points, now second to the surprising Marchessault.
Jagr gets assist 1127 in career game 1651
Jaromir Jagr assisted on the Marchessault goal, his eighth of the season and his 1127 career set up and also his 1879th point. In the coming weeks Jagr aims to catch Mark Messier, the NHL’s #2 all-time scorer with 1887 points. After a difficult start Jagr now has five points over the last five games including 3 in the Oct. 19 game at Ottawa. Jagr also caught Chris Chelios for fifth all-time in games played with 1651, and will tie Mark Reechi for fourth when he plays his next game, possibly Tuesday night when the Panthers play the Chicago Blackhawks.
What happened in the second period and after the game
A good start flattened for Florida after the opening 20 minutes. Panthers goalie James Reimer fished three pucks out of the net in 3:48 of the middle frame. Gallant was surprised by the decision and Panthers ownership was painted as a villain for making Gallant and also dismissed assistant coach take a taxi to the airport after team had struggled to an 1-10-1 mark.. Panthers co-owner Doug Cifu assured fans that the canned coaches were offered transportation to the airport and back to Florida but opted to secure their own ride to the airport, which created the photo op of the coaches with their bags waiting for a taxi outside Raleigh’s PNC Arena.
The good, the bad and the ugly. Highlights and more from nhl.com
https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/fla-vs-car/2016/11/27/2016020324#game=2016020324,game_state=final
Jagr has seen coaches leave his teams before…
The last time Jagr played on a team that changed coaches was during his second season with the New Jersey Devils during the 2014-15 season. At the time of Pete DeBoer’s firing Jagr was the Devils leading scorer but soon saw his playing time reduced as GM Lou Lamorillo and his sidekicks Scott Stevens and Adam Oates ran the Devils like a youth league team and fell out of contention. It was at the trade deadline that Jagr became a Florida Panther for the bargain price of a second and a third round pick, neither of whom plays in the NHL. As a Panther Jagr has averged almost .800 points per game and is viewed as a model of professionalism for the Panthers younger players.
…and sometimes he’s been traded
The feeling here is that Jagr will be playing in the playoffs. If the Panthers don’t make it then he could be dealt to a team fighting for a playoff spot at the trade deadline as he was from Dallas to Boston during the 2012-13 season or from the Devils to the Panthers two seasons later when a furious rally came up short in Florida’s playoff push. Not that he’d want to leave the Panthers. Our sources say Jagr enjoys playing on the team and the Panthers organization in general, who gave him a raise befitting a team’s leading scorer as Jagr was last year when he recorded 27 goals among his team leading 66 points in 79 games. His only other mid-season team change came when the Washington Capitals traded him to the New York Rangers in the 2003-04 campaign. Fresh air seems to inspire Jagr. As a Ranger Jagr would set eventually single season records for goals and points.
So, a new chapter for Jagr and the Panthers starts Tuesday night at the United Center Tuesday night against the formidable Chicago Blackhawks. We’ll see how that turns out as the legend continues….
Assorted Jagr-related links:
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.
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.
@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 especially developing players at the minor and college levels for Florida.
@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.
@JansmidCRO 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.
One of the most wide-ranging articles appeared in Sportsnet.com during the 2016-16 season.
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.
Ray Haluska aka Kladno Jagr, curator of the Jagr-O-Meter.
jagrometer 