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BOX SCORE
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- There was little doubt from the start it
would be one of those nights for 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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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Pittsburgh Clubhouse
Carolina Clubhouse
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
 Jan Hrdina takes the nice feed from Jagr.
avi: 627 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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