Jagr hits 1,900 points on 45th B-day
Jonathan Huberdeau scored 1:38 into overtime to give the Florida Panthers a wild 6-5 win over the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night as Jaromir Jagr notched his 1,900th NHL point on his 45th birthday.
Huberdeau scored his third goal of the season to give Florida its fifth win in six games while San Jose lost for the fifth time in six tries.
James Reimer entered and stopped both shots he faced after Luongo made 29 saves. Aleksander Barkov and Nick Bjugstad each scored twice for Florida.
Jagr notched an assist on Aleksander Barkov’s second goal of the contest that put him within 100 points of 2,000.
Second on the NHL’s all-time points list in his 23rd season, Jagr is 957 points behind Wayne Gretzky. He also ranks in the top five all-time in goals (759), assists (1,141) and games played (1,683) – numbers that would be even better had Jagr not lost all or parts of three seasons to work stoppages and spent three others playing in Russia.
Yet he hardly looks his age on the ice. Last season, his first full one in Florida, he became the oldest player in NHL history to reach 50 points, score at least 25 goals and lead his team in scoring. Even his teammates sometimes seem surprised by the gray streaks in his shoulder-length hair and the specks of white in his beard.
“When he takes he’s helmet off, you’re like, ‘Wow, he’s the Tom Brady of hockey,’” assistant coach Dave Barr said of Jagr, a former MVP and fivetime NHL scoring leader. “He’s an icon. And he’s been an icon for years.” MORE THAN half the players in the NHL — including his two linemates — weren’t even born when Jaromir Jagr won his first Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991. The Florida Panthers’ ageless winger turned 45 on Wednesday and notched his 1,900th NHL point.
So, while it’s been a decade since Jagr scored 50 goals in a season, only three right wings topped his 66 points last season. And he has appeared in each of the Panthers’ first 54 games this season, earning a $1.5 million bonus in his oneyear contract.
“It amazes me every day because just when you think he can’t do it anymore, he has a phenomenal game,” said Florida Coach Tom Rowe, who played with a 51-year-old Gordie Howe in Howe’s final NHL season. “You need to be with Jags every day and watch what he does. He spends an incredible amount of time exercising.”
Blue Jackets 5, Maple Leafs 2
Columbus jumped out to a four-goal lead in the first 30 minutes and went on to claim a victory over Toronto.
Josh Anderson and Boone Jenner scored first-period goals for the Blue Jackets in the fourth game of their season-long seven-game home-stand. Oliver Bjorkstrand and Nick Foligno added second-period goals.
Nazem Kadri was responsible for both Maple Leafs’ goals.
Blues 2, Red Wings 0
Carter Hutton stopped 25 shots for his fourth shutout of the season as St. Louis posted a victory over Detroit.
It with the fifth shutout posted by the Blues in their last 10 road games, and back-up goalie Hutton has had four of them.
Ivan Barbashev and Jaden Schwartz scored for the Blues.
Flames 3, Flyers 1
Matthew Tkachuk scored once and set up the game-winning goal by T.J. Brodie as Calgary beat Philadelphia.
Nick Cousins scored the lone goal of the game for the Flyers.
The two points move Calgary back into the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference, while the Flyers squandered an opportunity to pull even with Toronto for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. (Reuters)