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Jagr nets three points in Panthers 4-1 win over Senators

On Saturday night in Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, the Florida Panthers defeated the Senators, 4-1.

After starting off their road trip with a rousing overtime victory against the Montreal Canadiens, 4-3 on Tuesday, the Panthers laid an egg on Thursday in the form of a 6-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. This was a convincing return to form and once again gets the Panthers above .500 for the season (9-8-1).

Jaromir Jagr (2) ended his goal-scoring drought at 13 games with a score on the first shift of the game, with assists from Aleksander Barkov (7) and Keith Yandle (9). Yandle got things started with an outlet pass from deep in Florida’s own zone to Barkov, streaking in with Jagr in a two-on-one rush against Craig Anderson. Jagr backhanded it between Anderson’s legs for a quick 1-0 Panthers’ lead that they would never relinquish.

Jussi Jokinen doubled Florida’s lead at the 12:00 mark with his first marker of the season, with helpers from Barkov (8) and Jagr (6). Jokinen went high on Anderson’s glove side with a sneaky slow wrist shot from 12 feet in front of the crease to make it 2-0 on Florida’s third shot on goal of the game. The Sens had already challenged Roberto Luongo 10 times at that point.

Jonathan Marchessault scored his team-leading ninth goal of the campaign with less than five minutes left in the second period when he roofed the biscuit past a confused looking Anderson for a 3-0 Panthers’ lead. Jason Demers (6) and Vincent Trocheck (5) were credited with assists on the play.

4:45 into the final period would see the Senators break their seal when Jean-Gabriel Pageau made a physics defying shot to beat Luongo high on the glove side. Aside from good positioning, Luongo didn’t make a move to stop the puck. I don’t think he even saw it. In his defense, the shot was just impossible, and although legal, there oughta be a law. Just watch it if you haven’t. Kyle Turris (3) and Ryan Dzingel (5) got the assists on the goal, which turned out to be the only Ottawa score of the game. Luongo stopped 34-of-35 shots to earn the First Star of the Game.

Derek MacKenzie scored his second goal of the season halfway through the final period when he started an odd-man rush with tenacious defensive zone play and a shot that only a mother could love. After poke checking a pass out of the zone, Florida’s captain hustled down the ice just fast enough to get a pass off to Jussi Jokinen. Curtis Lazar intercepted the pass, but it bounced off his stick back to DMack, who slid it past Anderson. The Sens netminder stopped most of it, but it was just enough to cross the goal line for a 4-1 Florida lead. Jagr (7) was awarded his second assist of the night, and third point of the game on the play.

Turrists and Dzingelberries

  • Special teams were almost a non-factor for both teams. Florida didn’t get a single power play, and the Senators were held to 0-for-2 for the game.
  • The Senators outshot the Panthers in every period, winning the shots-on-goal battle 15-to-8 in the first, 12-to-8 in the second, and 13-to-7 in the third.
  • In addition to getting 40 shots on goal to just 23 for the Panthers, Florida also managed to block 29 other shots to just 11 for the Sens for a 69-to-34 Fenwick in favor of Ottawa. Most of the advantage can be traced to score effects, as the Senators trailed for over 59 and a half minutes when it was all done. Mark Pysyk blocked a remarkable 12 shots all by himself.
  • The Senators led Florida with 28 hits dished out, to 25 for the Panthers. MacKenzie and Kindl led the Cats with five each, while Aaron Ekblad dished out four. Pageau had a game-leading six for the Senators.
  • The three-point game was the 194th through Jagr’s career, and his first since getting two goals and an assist in a 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on October 15th last season. It was his 534th multi-point game, his 61st since turning 40. /

The Panthers get a quick turnaround and visit the New York Rangers tomorrow night to close out the road trip. Join us back here for the GameThread and other refinements throughout the day. For another point of view on Saturday’s festivities, check out Ottawa Silver Seven.

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