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  Wednesday, Dec. 15 7:30pm ET
Jagr scores twice, has three assists
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- There was little doubt from the start it would be one of those nights for Jaromir Jagr.

Jaromir Jagr
It was "one of those nights" for Jaromir Jagr, who had two goals and three assists.

Jagr had two goals and three assists as the Pittsburgh Penguins won their fourth straight under new coach Herb Brooks in a 6-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night.

"You get a certain sense when you play Pittsburgh that when Jaromir Jagr decides that he's having that kind of night we could have scored six and he would have found a way to get eight," Carolina coach Paul Maurice said.

"He is that good with the puck. When he decides he is going to change gears, that's it," Maurice added. "We are not talking about a good hockey player here, we're probably talking about the best hockey player in the world."

It was the fourth five-point night of Jagr's career. The NHL scoring leader has 52 points in 29 games. Jan Hrdina added two goals and an assist, and Martin Straka had three assists.

Jagr said he's getting more freedom to handle the puck under Brooks.

"It's a totally different system," Jagr said. "He wants to hold the puck all the time. If you don't have to dump it, don't dump it at all. If we have the position and the puck just keep it."

The Hurricanes closed to 4-3 early in the third, but Michael Rozsival gave Pittsburgh a two-goal margin with his first NHL goal. Rozsival's goal -- five seconds after Paul Coffey took a holding penalty -- was the first power-play goal allowed by Carolina in 32 home chances.

Jagr added an assist on German Titov's empty-net goal with 24 seconds left.

Pittsburgh had won three straight at home since Brooks took over for Kevin Constantine last week, but kept its streak alive on the road, winning for only the fourth time in 15 games away from the Civic Arena.

Meanwhile, the Hurricanes, coming off a four-game road trip, dropped their third straight for the first time this season, falling back to .500.

Jagr's first three points came in an eight-minute span of the first period to put the Hurricanes in their worst opening-period deficit of the season.

Jagr scored his league-leading 23rd goal of the season 4½ minutes in when he stickhandled past two Carolina defensemen into the slot and beat Arturs Irbe high on the glove side.

He then assisted on a pair of goals by Hrdina as the Penguins dominated the play early.

"You can't come out against a team like that and spot them three goals," Carolina captain Ron Francis said. "We didn't start with anywhere near the intensity we needed to start the hockey game with, -- and it cost us."

Hrdina, a second-year player who missed a month earlier in the season with an ankle sprain, scored his third of the season after a giveaway by Carolina's Sean Hill. The center then got the first two-goal game of his career four minutes later as Jagr burst down the right side and fed Hrdina for an easy goal.

Carolina closed to 3-1 less than eight minutes into the second period on an unassisted goal by Jeff O'Neill, who moved into a tie for the team lead with his 12th goal.

But Jagr was able to stop a bouncing puck to the right of Irbe late in the second, gathering it in and quickly sticking it between Irbe's legs with 27.6 seconds left.

Goals by Paul Ranheim and Francis 2:20 apart early in the third made it interesting.
 


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RECAPS
NY Rangers 8
Los Angeles 3

Washington 4
Atlanta 0

Pittsburgh 6
Carolina 3

Detroit 5
Edmonton 1

Florida 3
Nashville 2

Toronto 5
NY Islanders 1

Dallas 5
Calgary 1

Anaheim 4
Colorado 2

AUDIO/VIDEO
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 Jan Hrdina takes the nice feed from Jagr.
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