Panthers retake Atlantic lead with win over Lightning
TAMPA, Fla. - Jaromir Jagr had a goal and an assist, Roberto Luongo made 33 saves and the Florida Panthers took over first place in the Atlantic Division by beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-2 on Saturday night.
Jaromir Jagr has scored 8 goals after turning 44. The only player to score more goals after turning 44 in NHL history is Gordie Howe.
- ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) March 27, 2016
Vincent Trocheck, Jiri Hudler, Jonathan Huberdeau and Jussi Jokinen also scored for the Panthers, who have a two-point lead over the Lightning.
Tampa Bay got goals from Tyler Johnson and Steven Stamkos.
The Lightning were without right wing Nikita Kucherov, who took a shot off his foot in a 7-4 win over the New York Islanders on Friday night. Right wing Ryan Callahan, defenseman Anton Stralman and center Valtteri Filppula also sat for Tampa Bay with injuries.
The Panthers' 28th-ranked road power play converted its first opportunity when Jagr beat Andrei Vasilevskiy from the right circle for a 2-1 lead with 1:58 left in the first.
Jagr's goal was his 25th this season and 747th overall, which is the third most in NHL history. Gordie Howe is second with 801.
Related: Jagr becomes 2nd in history to score 25 goals in 18 seasons
Florida went up 3-1 at 15:53 of the second when Alex Petrovic's shot hit Hudler and then went off Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman.
Luongo made strong in-close saves on Cedric Paquette and Mike Blunden during the second.
Huberdeau made it 4-1 at 4:02 of the third.
Stamkos got his 36th goal on the power play with 3:12 to play before Jokinen added an empty-netter.
Less than a minute after Johnson was denied on a re-direction by Luongo, Trocheck got the Panthers even at 1 and extended his goal-scoring streak to four straight games at 13:36 of the first.
Johnson opened the scoring 5:52 into the game on Tampa Bay's first power play against Florida, which has the NHL's second best road penalty-killing unit.
Florida went 1 for 4 on the power play, while Tampa Bay scored twice on five chances.
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