Jagr can tie Hull mark against Blues

Brett Hull scored most of his NHL goals for the St. Louis Blues. Jaromir Jagr can tie Hull for third in NHL history with two against them Friday.
The Florida Panthers forward will play the Blues at BB&T Center (7:30 p.m. ET; FS-MW, FS-F, NHL.TV) starting with 739 NHL goals, two behind Hull, who scored 527 of his 741 in 10-plus seasons with St. Louis.

Hull, who scored in his NHL regular-season debut for the Calgary Flames on Nov. 13, 1986, passed Marcel Dionne for third place with No. 732 on Dec. 8, 2003, playing for the Detroit Red Wings. Dionne had been third since Jan. 21, 1985, when he passed Bobby Hull with No. 611.
"It's obviously not a record, but you do things well and there are people with extraordinary talent that are going to pass you one day," Hull said last month. "I would think at this point with the way the game is played, it'll be Jagr and [Alex Ovechkin], and I'll probably end up fifth. It's a pretty good group of guys to be lumped with though."
Jagr passed Dionne for fourth with his 732nd on Dec. 20, 20 games ago.
Jagr has 17 goals in 51 games this season. The 43-year-old made his NHL debut on Oct. 5, 1990 and has played 1,601 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Dallas Stars, Boston Bruins, New Jersey Devils and Panthers.
Hull scored his 741 goals in 1,264 games with the Flames, Blues, Stars and Red Wings. He did not have a goal in five games with the Phoenix Coyotes during the 2005-06 season, his last.
"In some ways I think Jagr is kind of like me when he's out there, certainly not flashy," Hull said. "But he does his thing and he does it methodically in the offensive zone and he gets the job done. You look at Pavel Datsyuk and [Patrick] Kane or the big shot of Ovechkin, you want to watch those guys or you can't stop looking at them. But Jagr does it without really being noticed. That's the genius of it."

Wayne Gretzky's 894 goals are most in NHL history, 93 more than Gordie Howe.
Jagr is fourth with 1,840 points, behind Howe (1,850), Mark Messier (1,887) and Gretzky (2,857).
Ovechkin, of the Capitals, has 509 goals, third among active NHL players and 39th all-time; Jarome Iginla of the Colorado Avalanche has 604, 18th all-time.
Jagr missed three NHL seasons playing in the Kontinental Hockey League from 2008-11.
"He always did it, and I think he's perfected it now even more that he's 43 years old," Hull said. "The game has completely changed and it shows you how good he is that he can still continue to play and do that. Obviously he doesn't play the exact same way he did because it was a lot of fun in those Pittsburgh days when he was playing with Mario [Lemieux]. Those guys were so skilled and fun to watch. But in today's game he does the exact same thing. Maybe not quite as effective because the game is different. But he is the same player in a different era. It's fun to see. Tip your hat to a guy with his longevity and the ability to continue doing what he's doing."