There was a lot of action - 11 games total - on Thursday, but it’s easy to pick what last night’s headline was. Through the Florida Panthers fell short against the Washington Capitals, Jaromir Jagr managed to temporarily tie the game in the second period with a power-play goal - the 750th of his career.
Jagr is just the third player to ever reach that milestone. Gordie Howe retired with 801 goals and Wayne Gretzky ended his career at 894. Given that Jagr is 44 years old, it’s hard to see him beating either of those or reaching any more major goal scoring milestones in his career. That being said, Jagr’s longevity is quite the feat as it is.
After all, his 66 points last season was the most ever by a 43-year-old by a wide margin. The all-time best for a 44-year-old was defenseman Doug Harvey, who had two goals and 22 points in 70 games, so it doesn’t seem unreasonable to believe that Jagr might shatter that record as well. Though to be fair, if you go to include age 44 and above, then the best was Gordie Howe, who had 15 goals and 41 points in 80 games at the age of 51.
Although the brings up something else: If Howe was able to keep playing at that age - and he was in the WHA for his mid-to-late 40s - is that something that Jagr might be able to do or come closer to than he already has? Because it seems hard to believe that Jagr has another two or three seasons left in him, but if he does then who knows what’s possible as far as chasing Howe’s goal total goes.
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BOSTON 2 NEW JERSEY 1
Patrice Bergeron missed the start of the season due to a lower-body injury, but he made his debut on Thursday and was the difference in it. The Bruins forward scored the game-winning goal with 1:15 minutes left in regulation.
Brad Marchand assisted on Bergeron’s goal and also accounted for the Bruins’ other marker. That gives Marchand three goals and nine points in just four games this season.
Those setbacks were enough to hand Devils goalie Cory Schneider the loss, but it’s not as if he had a bad game. He turned aside 34 of 36 shots and currently owns a 2.00 GAA and .938 save percentage in four starts.
Tuukka Rask was great as well with 28 saves. He’s 3-0-0 with a 1.68 GAA and .947 save percentage in three starts.
Kyle Palmieri scored the Devils’ goal. It was his second of the season and 75th of his career.
ANAHEIM 3 PHILADELPHIA 2
The Ducks had fallen behind 2-1 midway through the second, but they were trailing for just over six minutes when Corey Perry tied the game with his second goal of the season.
Ryan Garbutt followed that up in the final frame with his first goal of 2016-17. He’s scored 38 goals in his career and eight of them have been game winners.
Matt Read extended his goal scoring streak to three games. He now has four markers in four contests this season after finding the net just 11 times in 79 games in 2015-16.
Steve Mason is still searching for his first win of the season after allowing three goals on 26 shots. He has a 3.46 GAA and .875 save percentage this season.
John Gibson turned aside 20 of 22 shots Thursday night. His record improved to 1-2-1 to go along with his 2.81 GAA and .890 save percentage.
PITTSBURGH 3 SAN JOSE 2
This was a game of dramatic momentum shifts. In the second period the Sharks outshot Pittsburgh 17-4 and established a 2-0 lead. Pittsburgh came back in the second period, though the shot differential was a more mild 10-7 in the Penguins’ favor.
Marc-Andre Fleury kicked out 32 of 34 shots to improve to 3-1-1 this season. He has a 2.75 GAA and .920 save percentage in five starts.
At the other end of the ice, Martin Jones was charged with three goals on 20 shots. That brings him to a 2.78 GAA and .887 save percentage in four games.
Evgeni Malkin found the back of the net and registered an assist on Thursday. He’s up to two goals and five points in five contests.
Tomas Hertl netted a goal for the San Jose Sharks. He’s on a three-game point streak and has two goals and an assist over that span.
WASHINGTON 4 FLORIDA 2
Jaromir Jagr scored his first goal of the 2016-17 campaign. More importantly, as mentioned above, it was the 750th goal of his career. Just think of how often you hear about how the NHL in the cap era has become a young man’s game and when you see some NHL veterans struggle to get contracts at all as they battle for spots during training camp armed with only a PTO. Then you have Jagr, who will turn 45 in February, and is still contributing at this level.
Speaking of prolific goal scorers, Alex Ovechkin netted what proved to be the game-winning goal at 7:37 of the third period. That was the 527th marker of his career, putting him six away from 32nd place and Frank Mahovlich.
Braden Holtby stopped 26 of 28 shots to earn his second victory of the 2016-17 campaign. He has a 1.63 GAA and .938 save percentage in three starts so far.
Capitals forward Justin Williams found the back of the net. Though his accomplishment was overshadowed by Jagr’s, it is worth noting that it was the 250th goal of Williams’ career.
Roberto Luongo kicked out 25 of 29 shots in the losing effort. By contrast he allowed just two goals in his first two games against Detroit and New Jersey.
COLORADO 4 TAMPA BAY 0
Colorado won this won despite being outshot 27-16. Ben Bishop made just 12 saves and now has a 3.69 GAA and .861 save percentage in three games.
Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov made the 27 saves necessary for the shutout. It was his first perfect game of the 2016-17 campaign and the 21st of his career.
Matt Duchene had two goals and an assist Thursday night. It’s a nice way for him to breakout after going pointless in the first three contests.
Andreas Martinsen found the back of the net at 7:53 of the third period. Like Duchene, Martinsen hadn’t recorded a point in 2016-17 prior to last night.
Carl Soderberg accounted for the Avalanche’s final goal. He has two markers in four games this season.
MONTREAL 5 ARIZONA 2
Carey Price was able to make his season debut on Thursday after missing Montreal’s first three games due to a bad flu. This was also his first NHL game since Nov. 25 due to his 2015-16 injury troubles. He picked up right where he left off though with a 27-save performance.
Louis Domingue kicked out just 15 of 19 shots in the first 25:49 minutes of the contest. Afterwards he was pulled for Justin Peters, who turned aside 23 of 24 shots. If you’re wondering where Mike Smith was in all of this, he’s back in Arizona due to a lower-body injury.
Laurent Dauphin netted a goal for the Coyotes. It was his first of the season and his second in 11 career games.
Shea Weber scored the game-winning goal last night. It was his first marker with the Montreal Canadiens. He also has three assists in four games.
Tomas Plekanec assisted on two of Montreal’s five goals. He has three points - all helpers - in four contests.
MINNESOTA 3 TORONTO 2
Toronto has now held the lead through 40 minutes in all four of their games this season. Even so, they have just a 1-1-2 record.
On Thursday night it was Eric Staal that completed a comeback against the Maple Leafs. He scored his second marker of the game - and his third of the season - at 11:53 of the third period.
The silver lining for the Maple Leafs is that Auston Matthews found the back of the net again. The rookie forward already has five goals and six points in four games.
Jhonas Enroth got the start for Toronto and turned aside 24 of 27 shots. He hadn’t played in 2016-17 prior to last night’s action.
Devan Dubnyk kicked out 31 of 33 shots, including all 10 he faced in the third. He has a 2-1-0 record, 2.70 GAA, and .901 save percentage in three games.
LOS ANGELES 4 DALLAS 3 (Overtime)
While the Dallas Stars fell short last night, the fact that they got a point at all is thanks in part to Jason Spezza, who scored the game-tying goal with 2:07 minutes left in the third period. He had also recorded an assist earlier in the contest.
Los Angeles’ Alec Martinez also finished the game with a goal and an assist. Like Spezza, his marker was crucial as Martinez found the back of the net at 1:20 of the overtime period.
Peter Budaj was making his first start of the season after being summoned due to Jonathan Quick‘s groin injury. Budaj turned aside 17 of 20 shots to record the win.
Kari Lehtonen stopped 35 of 39 shots, including 16 of 18 in the second period. He now has a 1-1-1 record in 2016-17.
Jeff Carter had a goal and an assist Thursday night. He has four points in as many games.
CAROLINA 4 CALGARY 2
Hurricanes defenseman Noah Hanifin registered three assists Thursday night. That’s the first three-point game of the 19-year-old sophomore’s NHL career.
Hanifin’s efforts helped goalie Eddie Lack and the Carolina Hurricanes pick up their first win of the season. Lack did his part too, turning aside 24 of 26 shots.
Johnny Gaudreau netted his first goal of the season. He now has three points in five games.
Viktor Stalberg also scored his first goal of 2016-17 and his proved to be the game-winner. That’s his 13th career GWG.
Brian Elliott kicked out 28 of 32 shots. He’s allowed at least four goals in all three of his starts.
EDMONTON 3 ST. LOUIS 1
For a time, this game seemed promising enough for the Blues and Nail Yakupov. The former Edmonton Oilers forward got some measure of revenge when he scored the first goal of the game at 3:37 of the second frame.
However, it was another former first overall pick, Connor McDavid, that ended up having the bigger impact. McDavid had a goal and an assist on Thursday, bringing him up to eight points in five games.
Milan Lucic netted the game-winning goal. He’s off to a pretty good start too with two goals and four points in five contests.
Oilers goalie Cam Talbot saved 34 of 35 shots last night. He’s got a 4-1-0 record now, though his 3.32 GAA and .904 save percentage still leave something to be desired.
Jake Allen allowed two goals on 22 shots. He’s 2-1-1 with a 1.99 GAA and .909 save percentage in four starts.
VANCOUVER 2 BUFFALO 1
Jacob Markstrom kicked out 26 of 27 shots to improve to 3-0-0 with a 1.65 GAA and .932 save percentage this season.
The Canucks goalie came just 8:37 minutes shy of a shutout before Sabres forward Nicholas Baptiste found the back of the net. It was the 21-year-old’s first career goal in his second NHL game.
Daniel Sedin netted the game-winner for the 79th time in his career. He has two goals and three points in four games in 2016-17.
Robin Lehner stopped 18 of 20 shots last night. He has a 1-2-1 record, 3.01 GAA, and .892 save percentage this season.
With this win, Vancouver improved to 4-0-0 this season, which puts the 2016-17 Canucks in a tie for the franchise record. The last time they won their first four games was in 1992-93 when they went on to post a 46-29-9 record.
