Jagr Ties Esposito As Panthers Win

     Personal milestones were set by three Florida players as the Panthers held on to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 on Sunday night at BB&T Center. The most noteworthy was that Jaromir Jagr scored his 717th career goal to tie Phil Esposito for fifth all-time in NHL history. The Panthers, who snapped a five-game losing streak to the cross-state rival Lightning, improved their Atlantic Division record to 11-3-4 this season.
     Jagr scored his first goal as a member of the Panthers at 10:24 of the first period to give Florida(28-22-13) a 1-0 lead. Jonathan Huberdeau brought the puck through the left circle on a 2-on-1 break. His cross-ice pass was stopped by a defender and Jagr followed with a wrist shot that beat Ben Bishop to the glove side.
     Tampa Bay(38-20-6) came back quickly and tied the contest at 12:08. Jonathan Drouin held the puck on the low left side, dropped it off to Anton Stralman and he snapped home a shot from the left wing.
     The Panthers put together two goals during the second period to take charge. Jagr took a shot from the slot area which was saved then Aleksander Barkov dove and flicked in a backhand shot from the blue paint at 5:31.
     Brad Boyes finally picked up his 200th career NHL goal after a 17-game goal drought with 3:00 to go in the second. He last scored a goal back on January 27 against Detroit. The puck went around the end wall to him in the right corner, he shot it on goal where it bounced it off Bishop's right knee and into the net.
    In the third period, the Cats made it a three-goal cushion on the power play at 4:18 as Aaron Ekblad scored his tenth goal this season on a one-time slapshot from above the left circle. He tied Ed Jovanovski for the club record for most goals in a rookie season by a defenseman. Jovo set the mark in 1995-96 when Florida won the Eastern Conference championship.
     The Lightning closed the gap with two goals in the remainder of the frame. Steven Stamkos compiled his 35th goal of the season at 8:31 on a snapshot from the low slot which got by Al Montoya. The Bolts pulled to within 4-3 with 2:44 left as Tyler Johnson redirected a pass in front from Nikita Kuckerov on the left side.