SUNRISE, Fla. _ On a night the Panthers celebrated Star Wars and welcomed back defenseman Dmitry Kulikov with a video tribute, the spotlight shined brightest on Jaromir Jagr as he inched closer to another milestone in his certain Hall of Fame resume.
Jagr notched three assists to tie Mark Messier at 1,887 points for second-place all-time behind Wayne Gretzky's seemingly unreachable 2,857.
Sharing the spotlight was Jagr's 21-year-old linemate Aleksander Barkov, who had two assists, a goal and the clinching shootout goal to give the Panthers a 4-3 victory in the BB&T Center. They pulled within two points behind Boston for third place and a playoff berth in the bunched-up Atlantic Division. The Bruins, who have played one more game than Florida, are up next Thursday night in the second game of this critical five-game homestand against division foes.
Vincent Trocheck scored the deciding shootout goal with a wrister through the legs of Robin Lehner, and Roberto Luongo, who notched 36 saves, recorded his 447th victory to tie Terry Sawchuk for fifth place all-time.
Tied 2-2 after two, the Sabres, who found their sea legs halfway through the second period, took a 3-2 lead with 7:41 remaining when after a flurry of chances, blossoming defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen's slap-shot from beyond the right circle. Ristolainen, who also had an assist, has a team-leading 23 points, including 15 points in his last 13 games.
But with 3:51 remaining, Jagr fed Barkov, who slid the puck across the slot to Nick Bjugstad for his very timely first goal of the season in his 14th game. Barkov, who wasn't born when Jagr began his career in 1990, had three points, giving him 10 points in his last eight games (5-5). It was Jagr's second three-point game of the season.
Both teams came in well-rested as the Sabres have enjoyed South Florida's sunshine since Sunday, and the Panthers had three days to regroup after a road trip out West. It was the Panthers with the energetic legs in a dominant first period in which they led 1-0 and 16-4 in shots.
At 16:09, Jagr fed a streaking Barkov up the gut. His first shot was stopped by Lehner, but Barkov gathered in the rebound as he was parallel to the cage before banking it in off the goalie's skate for his eighth goal.
The Panthers grabbed a 2-0 lead at 12:14 of the second on a power-play goal by defenseman Keith Yandle, whose flick shot from the blue line evaded a screened-out Lehner. Jagr and Barkov notched helpers.
The Sabres scored twice in a 70-second span to forge a 2-2 tie after two. The Panthers' red-hot fifth-ranked penalty kill went up against the Sabres' torrid fourth-ranked power play and lost at 15:45, when Sam Reinhart redirected the blue-line wrist shot of Ristolainen, who notched his team-leading 20th assist.
Before the goal was announced the Sabres stormed Luongo and an unmarked Evander Kane slammed in a rebound of Cody Franson's shot. That fired up the Panthers, which led to a drawn-out heavyweight fight between Florida enforcer Shawn Thornton and Marcus Foligno.
