Another scoring milestone for Jaromir Jagr, best moments from Blackhawks-North Stars/Wild alumni game and more in your NHL morning coffee headlines.
Panthers star Jaromir Jagr celebrates his 742nd career NHL goal.
MIAMI HERALD: Jaromir Jagr scored twice to both pass Brett Hull for third on the NHL’s all-time goal list (742) and power the Florida Panthers to a 3-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Another impressive milestone in a season full of them for the 44-year-old Jagr, who is also the Panthers’ leading scorer this season and could reach 30 goals and 60 points. He’s also 59 goals behind the great Gordie Howe for second (801) on the all-time list.
THE TAMPA TRIBUNE: Steven Stamkos tallied his 300th career NHL goal as the Tampa Bay Lightning doubled up the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2.
CSNNE.COM: Brad Marchand scored twice, including his career-best 30th of the season, as the Boston Bruins thumped the Dallas Stars 7-3.
CSNPHILLY.COM: Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere streaked his consecutive game points streak for NHL rookie blueliners to 15 with an overtime goal in his club’s 5-4 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs. “Ghost Bear” is now only four points shy of the Flyers consecutive game points record of 19, jointly held by Eric Lindros and Bobby Clarke.
CBS SPORTS: Check out the five great moments from Saturday’s outdoor game between the Chicago Blackhawks and North Stars/Wild alumni.
LOS ANGELES TIMES: The Anaheim Ducks have turned around what seemed to be a lost season by moving near the top of the Pacific Division. Their record of 18-4-2 since Christmas is among the league’s best.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Count me among those who doubted the Ducks could get out of the very deep hole they dug for themselves. They’re now only four points behind the LA Kings for top spot in the Pacific Division. While still among the league’s lowest-scoring teams, they’re starting to rise in that category.
THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC: Coyotes defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson is listed as day-to-day after leaving yesterday’s 6-4 loss to St. Louis with an apparent injury to his right foot. It’s not considered a long-term issue.
HOMETOWN HOCKEY: Ron MacLean notes the difficulty Canadian NHL teams have in attracting Canadian-born NHL stars via trades and free agency.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It’s a topic I’ve also written about last February and again last September. MacLean touches on some of the issues I raised, notably that warmer climate, lower taxes and anonymity are very enticing to Canadian NHL stars.
Nice to see MacLean confirming what I have said repeatedly about why Top Drawer UFAs avoid Canada-based teams like the plague and/or include them on their no-go list when it comes to trades. I also read somewhere that the reason Phaneuf had not placed Ottawa on his no-go list is that he thought there would never be a trade between the two.
I think Dion`s wife had a lot to do with his list because he was willing to play in Edmonton.
George how did Dion look last nite, scored the tying goal I see.
More news from this afternoon:
The Toronto Maple Leafs traded Shawn Matthias to the Colorado Avalanche for prospect Colin Smith and a 4th round pick.
Matthias was having a disappointing season for the Leafs, only scoring 6 goals, including one last night, down from a career high of 18 that he had last year for Vancouver so getting anything for him must be considered a victory for Lou L.
Now if he is worth a 4th rounder, then for nearly everyone else, they could get at the very least a 3rd or better, depending on the player. We’ll see how that works out after the week is up but for now, the fun is only beginning.