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Friday, Mar. 24 7:30pm ET
Pens 3-0 since Jagr rejoined team | |||||
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BOX SCORE
ATLANTA (AP) -- The Pittsburgh Penguins have won three straight games to tighten their hold on the playoffs. It's hardly a coincidence the streak began when Jaromir Jagr returned to the ice. "He's the difference," said goalie Jean-Sebastien Aubin, who played a major role himself Friday night in a 5-3 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers. "He's the greatest player in the world. We're so happy to have him back." The Penguins started winning again when Jagr returned from leg problems. The NHL's leading scorer has two goals and five assists in the last three games, setting up the clinching goal against the Thrashers with 2:35 remaining. Five players scored for the Penguins, who moved three points ahead of Buffalo for the next-to-last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Montreal is one point behind the Sabres. "These are like playoff games for us now," Jagr said. "One line is not going to do it. We need three lines that are going to score goals." Skating along the right boards, Jagr threaded a pass through three players to Josef Beranek, who was streaking down the opposite wing and fired the puck past helpless Atlanta goalie Damian Rhodes. Jagr had a chance to score, but missed a backhander at an open net in the final minute. Still, the Penguins improved to 28-24-5 when their captain plays; they are 4-10-3 without him. The Thrashers had two goals waved off and put up one of their best efforts of the season, firing 38 shots at Aubin. But Atlanta dropped to 3-28-3 in its last 34 games. "They tried to dictate a wide-open game," Rhodes said. "They'd rather pass the puck than shoot the puck. It's like a game of keep away." Rhodes, who stopped a career-high 48 shots in a 1-1 tie with Montreal on Wednesday, gave up a soft, short-handed goal to Martin Straka to open the scoring just 1:29 into the game. But the Thrashers goalie made several acrobatic stops among his 30 saves, including a baseball-like slide across the crease to turn away a point-blank shot by Jagr. After Straka's 18th goal, Robert Lang put the Penguins up 2-0 at 7:44 of the first with his 21st. He was allowed to skate out from behind the net uncontested and fire the puck past Rhodes through a screen. From that point, the teams traded goals with Atlanta in a futile game of catchup. Still in the first, Dean Sylvester brought the Thrashers to 2-1 with his 15th goal at 8:24, only to have the Penguins restore their two-goal margin on Pat Falloon's ninth at 5:57 of the second. Yannick Tremblay scored the first of two power-play goals by the Thrashers at 8:09, cutting the deficit to 3-2, but Alexei Kovalev gave the Penguins some breathing room with his 22nd at 11:16. In the third, Atlanta's Steve Guolla scored his 10th on a power play at 7:08 to make it a one-goal game once again. But Beranek's 12th sent the crowd of 18,727, a record at Philips Arena, scurrying toward the exits. "It was a really good experience for us," Atlanta coach Curt Fraser said. "They have the best player in the world." The Penguins, who routed the Islanders 8-2 in New York on Tuesday, knew they couldn't afford to slip up against the Thrashers with eight games remaining. They travel to Philadelphia on Sunday before returning home to meet New Jersey. "We need to keep making these points," Kovalev said. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Pittsburgh Clubhouse Atlanta Clubhouse RECAPS Pittsburgh 5 Atlanta 3
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