Jagr scores in Bruins debut
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JAROMIR JAGR scored off his skate in his Bruins debut and Tuukka Rask stopped 40 shots to lead Boston to a 1-0 victory over the visiting New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.
Acquired from Dallas this week shortly before the trade deadline, Jagr joined the Bruins for the pregame skate Thursday morning and quickly endeared himself to the Boston fans. Brad Marchand's centering pass went off Jagr's left skate and past Martin Brodeur to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead with 80 seconds gone in the second period.
"They always say you have to drive to the net. Now I know why,'' Jagr joked.
Fans, some wearing mullet wigs, gave Jagr a standing ovation when he took the ice for his first shift in the first period and chanted his name after the goal.
Rask earned his third shutout of the season. Brodeur made 25 saves for the Devils.
The 41-year-old Jagr is 10th on the NHL career list with 1,680 points over a 19-year career in which he established himself as a star alongside Mario Lemieux with the Pittsburgh Penguins while winning the Stanley Cup in his first two seasons.
Jagr took the ice on Boston's second line with Marchand and Tyler Seguin. In addition to his somewhat inadvertent goal, he whiffed on a backhand with an open shot at the net midway through the second period, and had another open net in the third, when his sweeping shot was blocked by a sprawling defenseman.
In other games *
At Raleigh, N.C., Ben Bishop earned a shutout in his debut with Tampa Bay and the Lightning routed the reeling Carolina Hurricanes, 5-0.
Bishop, acquired a day earlier from Ottawa in exchange for promising rookie Cory Conacher, stopped a career-high 45 shots.
* At Washington, Mike Green scored his fifth goal in four games, Braden Holtby made 35 saves and then was perfect in the shootout, and the Capitals defeated the New York Islanders, 2-1.
Alex Ovechkin was the only player from either team to find the net in the shootout.
* At Montreal, Michael Ryder scored two goals and set up another, and the Canadiens downed Winnipeg, 4-1, to hand the Jets their fifth straight loss.
* At Chicago, Kevin Shattenkirk's goal in the sixth round of the shootout lifted St. Louis over the Blackhawks, 4-3.
* At Nashville, Marian Gaborik had a goal and an assist as the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Predators, 3-1.
Noteworthy *
The NHL fined San Jose defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic for slashing Minnesota's Dany Heatley. Vlasic was fined $8,378.38 for the infraction.
* Anaheim signed high-scoring forward Steven Whitney to a 2-year, entry-level contract. Whitney, one of the nation's best available undrafted free agents, spent the past four seasons at Boston College.
