SUNRISE–James Reimer stopped 30 shutouts as the Florida Panthers defeated the Buffalo Sabres 3-0 Saturday night at the BB&T Center. Nick Bjugstad sneaky short-side wrister in the second period wrister, while Jonathon Huberdeau executed a unique trick, scoring the first of his two goals while positioned inside the net and pulling a loose puck into the cag without impeding the goalie in any way. So unusual was the goal that it wasn’t even called a goal until it was discussed by the officials.
The victory made Shawn Thornton’s final NHL game a happy occasion for him and the home fans on fan appreciation night. The Panthers close out their season today in Washington.
Stats and highlights from the Panthers win from nhl.com
https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/buf-vs-fla/2017/04/08/2016021213#game=2016021213,game_state=final
Jagr collects two assists
Jaromir Jagr hit the scoresheet for the second game in a row with assists on both Huberdeau goals. The assists were his 29th and 30th of the season, and give him 1149 helpers for his career among his 1914 career points
Jagr confirms likely return to Pantherland
The normally guarded Jagr let one cat out of the bag following Saturday’s morning skate, that Miami Herald Florida Panthers beat reporter George Richards heard and jagrometer.com editor @CruisingRay retweeted.
This comes days after Jagr confirmed that he was very much enjoying living and playing in Florida and that both he and Florida President of Hockey Operations Dale Tallon said the two parties would talk after the season two talk about a new contract. Since returning from the KHL, Jagr has signed one year contracts to protect both himself and the teams he plays for starting with the one year deal he signed with Philadelphia for the 2011-12 season. After that it was Dallas during the lockout shortened season. Jagr was traded to Boston for the playoffs at the trade deadline. Jagr played 1.75 seasons in New Jersey before playing the final 1/4 season of the 2014-15 season, and has signed back to back one year deals with the Panthers since then. Jagr was the team MVP and leading scorer last season. As the entire team has slumped, his production has fallen from 66 points to 46 points. Jagr is one of the few Panthers to play every game in a season marred by injuries to top players. Over the last four seasons, Jagr has played in all but eight games.
The off season can bring about strange events and this year’s is complicated by the Las Vegas expansion draft. Will the Panthers sign Jagr before the draft then protect him. Can they leave him unsign and not protect and not lose him? With 16,000 pre-sold season tickets does Las Vegas and a a general manager who once signed and then salary dumped Jagr would the new Golden Knights even be interested? It’s complex and nothing that can be worried about until mid-June, so enjoy today’s game and the playoffs.
JAGROMETER.COM in DC for finale today
This is the final game for the Florida Panthers this season and it might be the final game for the Jagr Mullet 2017. Earlier in the week he suggested it might be time for a trim. In the late 90s this was done to appease a girlfriend, now it might be because it might be too much of a burden to maintain as it was given the demands of his workout schedule. We’ll get their early and get some photos during warmups just in case!
Updated Jagr-O-Meter
Let’s hope for some more updates after today’s game. Perhaps we can get the assist total up to a nice round 1150!
For Jagr news and stats stay with Jagrometer.com as….THE LEGEND CONTINUES!
Jagrometer.com is produced by Ray Haluska (@cruisingRay on twitter) a one-time sports writer, who covered the early years of Jagr’s career with the Pittsburgh Penguins and was an acknowledged advisor to the biography “Jagr.” Work linked are the property of the creators and provided as a courtesy to the authors and the audience. This is a free site and the producer does not receive compensation nor accept advertising for the the content that appears here.
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