Panthers Win Season Finale Over Devils

     The Florida Panthers completed their regular season with a 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils at BB&T Center on Saturday night. The Panthers finished 25 points ahead of last season which was the biggest improvement in the NHL. They also played in the most one-goal games in the league this season with 48. The Devils went 1-6-3 in their last ten games of the season.
     It was a great night for Jaromir Jagr as he set more milestones in this game against his former team. He passed Alex Delvecchio for 11th all-time in NHL history with 1,550 games played, surpassed Adam Oates with his 1,080th assist for sixth all-time and tied Wayne Gretzky for fourth all-time with his 204th power-play goal.
     New Jersey(32-6-14) had to wait until the second period to get on the scoreboard at 1:50. Jordin Tootoo dropped a pass from the left circle to Travis Zajac and he returned it to him. Tootoo snapped a shot from the left-circle dot for a 1-0 lead.
     The Panthers evened it up at 11:08 as Dave Bolland scored his sixth goal of the year. Jussi Jokinen had it in the low right circle and connected with Brad Boyes in the slot area. His lead pass was redirected into the Devils cage by Bolland from the left of the crease.
     In the third period, Florida(38-29-15) took their first lead of the contest at 7:59. Jagr fired a shot from the right circle which Cory Schneider saved, however Jonathan Huberdeau scrambled for the rebound and scored from the crease area for his career-high 15th goal of the season. Huberdeau recorded his 13th point in his last 13 games while Jagr passed Oates in career assists on that play.
     The Devils came back and tied the game at 2-2 during a 4-on-4 situation with 8:59 left in the third. Mike Cammalleri was on the left wing when he sent a cross-ice pass to Damon Severson in the middle and he released a wrist shot by the right shoulder of Al Montoya.
     Jagr tied Gretzky on the all-time list with a power-play goal at 12:23. Dmitry Kulikov blasted a shot from the right point which was stopped and Jagr got the game-winning goal on his second attempt from close range.