St. Louis–The Panthers go for their fifth straight win Monday  against St. Louis following a rugged 3-2 victory Saturday over the Los Angeles Kings. The win is their latest in a four game winning streak fueled by their top line of Jonathon Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov and Jaromir Jagr.

The line scored two of the three Panthers goals as Huberdeau and Barkov sandwiched their scores around a tally by second line left wing Jussi Jokinen. Jagr had a hand in both of his linemates goals as his lead pass from the right wing boards was the initial touch on a scoring play that involved four forwards as Huberdeau scored on an upper corner rocket from Barkov and Vincent Trocheck. Early in the third period, Jagr,  the five-time scoring champion, notched an assist when he squeezed a lead pass from the boards to the blue line . The speedy and skilled Barkov took the puck on the run before scoring from almost behind the net off the skate of the Kings goalie Peter Budaj.

With a recently-found commitment to improved defensive play the Panthers fought off a desperate Kings team’s effort to tie the game. Florida became the first NHL team this season to live the California dream by winning all three games on the West Coast vs. the Kings, Anaheim and San Jose. The victory was also a nice payback for the 6-3 pasting the Kings delivered to the Panthers nine days before at the BB&T Center when the Panthers were behind 6-1 after two periods. The Panthers are 7-1-0 in their last eight games and have rounded into form nicely since that setback. The Panthers have seven of eight games at home following Monday’s game. Florida was sitting third in the division after Saturday’s game but wins by Boston and Toronto pushed them ahead of the Panthers.

Ottawa, secure in second place for many weeks, is starting to lose key offensive players to injury and may lose their grip

The assist on the game winning goal was Jagr’s 1902nd career point and the play was also his 1142nd lifetime assist. The legend is now on a five game points streak.

Follow the link to see nhl.coms full coverage of the game which includes highlights, stats and more coverage.

https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/fla-vs-lak/2017/02/18/2016020868#game=2016020868,game_state=final

The next Panthers game is Monday night vs. St. Louis, then the Panthers come home for games vs. Edmonton Wednesday and Calgary Saturday at BB&T Center. Tickets can be securely acquired through panthers.nhl.com.

Updated Jagr-O-Meter

Another Jagr evolution story

https://www.nhl.com/news/florida-panthers-jaromir-jagr-not-slowing-down/c-286890974

Will the Panthers keep  it rolling? How about the line of Huberdeau, Barkov and Jagr? Find out in the next edition of Jagrometer.com, as….The LEGEND Continues.

Milestone of the week…

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