Jaromir Jagr Passes Gordie Howe In Points

     Jaromir Jagr passed Gordie Howe for 3rd all-time in NHL points as the Florida Panthers fell to the Boston Bruins 5-4 in overtime at BB&T Center on Monday night. The Bruins tied the Panthers for second place in the Atlantic Division and now both clubs are one point behind the Tampa Bay Lightning.The Panthers are winless in five of their last six games.
     It just took 34 seconds for Boston (37-23-7) to get on the scoreboard for a 1-0 lead. Lee Stempniak made a cross-ice pass from the right side of the neutral zone to Brad Marchand at the Panthers blue line. He skated and passed to the low slot where Patrice Bergeron redirected the puck by Roberto Luongo. The B's now improved to 29-11-2 when they score first in a contest.
     The Bruins extended the gap to 2-0 at the seven-minute mark of the period. Beleskey received a lead pass at the blue line from Dennis Seidenberg. He backhanded it to the middle where David Pastrnak skated through the slot and scored on a backhand shot.
     Boston moved out to a three-goal cushion at 12:22. Brett Connolly had the puck on the left wing, waited in the left circle and then snapped in a shot from the low left circle.
     Jaromir Jagr would pass Gordie Howe in career points at 16:48 as he compiled his 1,851st point in the NHL. Jonathan Huberdeau went around the Bruins cage and centered it to Jagr in the low slot. His shot was stopped by Tuukka Rask, however Aleksander Barkov put in the rebound for Florida(36-21-9).
     The B's make it 4-1 when Stempniak made a cross-ice pass in the Panthers zone to Bergeron on the left side. He scored his second goal of the game with 2:35 left in the first. Al Montoya replaced Luongo in net for the Cats to start the second period.
     The Panthers inched their way back as Jiri Hudler scored his first goal as a Florida Panther at 3:15 of the second. Huberdeau was at the top left circle and found Hudler in the low right circle for a one-time shot from an acute angle.
     Florida closed the margin to 4-3 on the power play at 6:08. Vincent Trocheck cycled the puck from the left wing to Reilly Smith on the end wall. He put it into the low slot where Jussi Jokinen pounded home a shot into the cage. Jokinen extended his point streak to eight games on the play.
     The Cats tied it 4-4 with 4:43 remaining in the third period. Alex Petrovic blasted a slapshot from the right point which was saved and then Hudler scored on the slot area for his second tally of the contest.
     Stempniak scored the game-winning goal with one minute to go in overtime. Ryan Spooner placed a pass to Stempniak at the top right circle and he fired a shot by Montoya for the victory.