Neither does Panthers coach Gerard Gallant, who is grateful for the leadership Jagr has provided to a relatively young team. Jagr and his teammates controlled the play in a scoreless first period, stuck to the gameplan and broke through when Jagr found Purcell in front with 4:42 left in the second.
"He played real well," Gallant said of Jagr. "There's nobody that played bad tonight. I thought he made a real good play on the goal. I thought he worked hard tonight, and that's what it's all about. When you work hard and show the kids the way, and we've been doing that for two years with our club. It's a lot of fun when you see the young kids play the way they're playing, and give a lot of credit to those older veteran guys, because they're really good for them."
Jagr won the Stanley Cup twice with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991 and 1992, and came within two wins of a third championship with the Boston Bruins in 2013 despite not scoring a goal in 22 games that postseason. There's nothing he'd rather do than guide these Panthers, who he led in scoring during the regular season with 66 points in 79 games, to the Cup.
"There's only one thing I care about," Jagr said. "There's a lot of guys counting on me to help, and I just don't want to disappoint them. I just want to be the best so people trust in me. That's all I worry about. It's nothing personal. I just want to be here and help. That's what I really worry about, just somehow help."
