Following Saturday’s 3-0 victory over the Rangers, future Hall of Fame forward Jaromir Jagr was clearly disgusted with his performance.
His torrid top line had no points and he had no shots on net. So after the maintenance crew cleared the ice of dozens of rubber rats and the reporters were typing their stories in the upper-level pressbox, there was No 68, a solitary figure skating by himself in an empty building.
Jagr’s legend continued to grow Sunday evening when he scored twice to propel the somewhat flat Panthers to a 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild to extend their franchise-record winning streak to nine games and complete a franchise-best 6-0 homestand.
The nine-game streak matches the longest in the NHL this season, tying the Canadiens (Oct 7-24), Capitals (Dec 12-30) and Rangers (Oct 25-Nov 15). The high-flying Panthers have won 15 of 18 to pad their first-place lead in the Atlantic Division to three points over the idle Canadiens.
The numbers are getting silly as the Panthers also extended their team record with their seventh consecutive victory at home where they haven’t lost since Dec. 8 to Ottawa or at all since Dec 12 at Boston.
Whether it’s Roberto Luongo or Al Montoya minding the net, the Panthers’ defense has been stellar during the streak as they have outscored opponents 30-11. Montoya, off to the best start of his career, is 6-1-1 and has allowed one goal in each of his last five starts as he notched his career-tying fourth victory in a row after recording 38 saves.
After a light practice scheduled for yesterday, the Panthers embark on a season-long six-game road trip that begins with the slumping Sabres today and ends with the surprisingly mediocre Lightning on Jan. 17. Remember, these Panthers have won seven of their last nine on the road so.
Back to Jagr. Tied at 1-1 after two, three Wild players got caught up ice to lead to a 3-on-2 breakout. Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov fed Brandon Pirri who gave it to Jagr in the neutral zone where he weaved his way in before unleashing a sweeping wrist shot from the centre of the high slot past Devan Dubnyk at 8:52 for his third game-winning goal this season and NHL-record 132nd of his career.
Jagr notched goal Nos 11 and 12 to take over the team lead and now has 735 career goals to move within six of tying Brett Hull for third on the all-time list behind Gordie Howe and Wayne Gretzky.
Before the fans could get dry from an early-evening downpour, Kulikov skated through the neutral zone and gave Jagr a sweet backhand pass on his blade where he then backhanded it through the wickets of Dubnyk for a 1-0 lead just 27 seconds in.
Jagr’s goal was the fastest of the season for the Panthers, eclipsing his goal against the Capitals on Dec. 10 that came at 51 seconds. Kulikov assisted on both of Jagr’s goals and linemate Jonathan Huberdeau added his team-leading 22nd assist (tied for 14th in NHL).
So the Panthers led 1-0 after one and continued another streak in which they haven’t trailed after the first 20 minutes during the nine-game winning streak. However, the Panthers inability to score on three first-period power plays (0-for-5 overall) against a Wild team that is the least shorthanded in the NHL was troublesome.
The Wild (20-11-7), who had won both meetings last season, stormed out of intermission and scored just 48 seconds in on Jason Zucker’s rebound goal in front to forge a 1-1 tie that stood after two periods. Minnesota had clearly outplayed the Panthers on both ends of the ice by dominating the faceoff circle (31-13) and shots (26-16) after two. Both teams played Saturday and the Wild went to a shootout before losing to Tampa, so fatigue shouldn’t have been a factor.