Jagr makes history in Panthers' loss to Bruins
SUNRISE, Fla. -- Frank Vatrano scored in his season debut as the Boston Bruins beat the Florida Panthers 3-1 on a Thursday night when Jaromir Jagr made history. Patrice Bergeron added a goal for the Bruins (18-14-3). David Backes had an empty-net goal at 18:37 of the third period.
Torey Krug had a pair of assists. Ryan Spooner and Brad Marchand added a helper each.
Boston's Tuukka Rask made 29 saves in running his career record against the Panthers to 18-3-1.
Goaltender James Reimer recorded 30 saves in his 11th start for Florida (15-14-5).
Jagr recorded an assist with 6:40 left in the game when Michael Matheson's shot bounced off the 44-year-old right winger. Aleksander Barkov then collected the puck and netted his ninth goal to cut Boston's lead to 2-1.
The point was the 1,888th for Jagr in his career, breaking a tie for second with Mark Messier. Wayne Gretzky is the NHL's all-time points leader with 2,857.
Boston made it 2-0 in a span of 3:04 in the second period to take control of the game in Rask's return to goal. The netminder was pulled in Tuesday night's game against the New York Islanders after allowing three goals in 13 shots in a 4-2 loss.
Krug kept the puck in Boston's offensive zone right at the blue line early in the period, then fed a slick pass to Vatrano in the slot.
Vatrano, who scored eight goals in 39 games as a rookie last year, beat Reimer for a 1-0 lead at 2:09 on just his second shot of the season.
With Florida's Seth Griffith in the penalty box for hooking, Krug slipped another pass into an open area in front of Florida's goal. Bergeron fired his fifth goal past Reimer at 5:13 for a 2-0 edge.
The marker was also a boost to the Bruins' power play, which entered the game 29th in the league at a meager 12.7 percent.
NOTES: The Bruins scratched centers Noel Acciari and Tim Schaller, and D Joe Morrow. ... Boston RW David Pastrnak and C Frank Vatrano returned to the lineup. Pastrnak had surgery to remove the bursa sac in his right elbow and missed two games. Vatrano tore ankle ligaments while running in September and made his season debut. ... C Dominic Moore, a member of the Panthers on the 2009-10 club, played in his 800th NHL game. ... The Panthers scratched G Roberto Luongo, RW Paul Thompson, C Kyle Rau and D Dylan McIlrath. ... Florida RW Jaromir Jagr is the only player in NHL history age 44 or older to record multiple three-point games. Jagr, who turns 45 in February, tallied three assists in the Panthers' 4-3 shootout win over Buffalo on Tuesday. ... Florida entered the game with the league's hottest penalty-killing group since Nov. 29, a span of 11 games. The Panthers negated 36 of the opposition's last 39 chances (92.3 percent).