Panthers Win 5th Straight By Beating Red Wings 6-3
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SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Jaromir Jagr keeps reaching milestones. Roberto Luongo keeps winning at home. And the Florida Panthers have never been on a scoring roll like this.
Vincent Trocheck scored twice and had an assist, Jagr ended an eight-game goal drought plus tacked on two assists, and the Atlantic Division leaders beat the Detroit Red Wings 6-3 on Thursday night.
Florida — winner of five straight — has scored at least five goals in each of its last four games, the first time that's happened in franchise history.
Luongo stopped 35 shots for his ninth straight win on home ice and moved past Tony Esposito into seventh on the NHL's career wins list with 424.
Brandon Pirri, Aleksander Barkov and Derek MacKenzie also scored for the Panthers.
Rookie center Dylan Larkin had his first two-goal game for Detroit, both coming within a span of 67 seconds bridging the first and second periods. Mike Green added a power-play tally with 7:24 left, and Justin Abdelkader had two assists for the Red Wings.
Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard made 27 saves, but was saddled with his seventh consecutive loss. Howard's last win was Dec. 3.
Detroit came out flying and took the game's first seven shots, but it was Florida that wound up scoring the first three goals.
Jagr got his 1,100th career assist on Pirri's goal that opened the scoring, part of a flurry that had the Panthers lighting the lamp three times in a span of 2:36. That assist got Jagr to a milestone reached by only five other players in NHL history — Wayne Gretzky, Ron Francis, Mark Messier, Ray Bourque and Paul Coffey.
And the goal that made it 5-2 early in the third was Jagr's 738th, putting him three behind Brett Hull for third on the NHL list.
Larkin beat Luongo from point-blank range in the slot with 5.5 seconds left in the period to get Detroit on the board, then cut the lead to 3-2 on an unassisted goal 1:01 into the second.
NOTES: The Panthers' winning streak with All-Star D Aaron Ekblad in the lineup is up to 17 games. He last played in a loss on Dec. 12. ... Florida improved to 16-0-1 when scoring at least four goals. ... Howard has two other seven-loss streaks in his NHL career. ... Detroit has lost in regulation only three times in its 18 games at Florida. The Red Wings have won 11, tied two and lost two others in overtime or a shootout. ... The game was Jagr's 1,800th when including playoff appearances. He also was assessed 6 penalty minutes, his most in a game since Oct. 20, 2007. ... Pirri was a scratch in Florida's previous four games. ... The teams meet again Monday in Detroit.
