Jagr turns back the clock, leads Czechs to 3-1 win
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Jaromir Jagr's thick legs can't stand up to 25 minutes of ice time a night any longer, and his revived mullet is a little thinner. A few creases are showing on a face that once adorned countless posters on hockey fans' walls.
The best hands in the game? They haven't aged at all, and one soft flick of them still can change a game in an instant. Or two.
Jagr, out of the NHL for two years and now a role player rather than one of hockey's big names, scored a goal and set up another late in the second period and the Czech Republic repeated its 2006 Olympic hockey victory over rival Slovakia by winning 3-1 Wednesday night.
Jagr, a five-time NHL scoring champion and two-time Stanley Cup winner who now plays in Russia's Kontinental Hockey League, flashed his former brilliance by creating goals on two of the six shifts he played in the pivotal second period of the Olympic opener for both teams.
"That was a lot of work," Jagr said. "I have not played a game like this in a while. It is different hockey."
Tomas Vokoun, the NHL save percentage leader for Florida, made 34 saves and Patrik Elias and Tomas Plekanec also scored for the Czechs, who took gold and bronze medals in the first three Olympics featuring NHL players.
The Czechs won despite being outshot 35-24 and failing on five of six power plays.
Jagr, once the youngest player to score in a Stanley Cup finals game at age 19 but now near the end of his career at 38, had barely played in the second period before putting the Czechs up 2-1. Jagr collected Roman Cervenka's outlet pass inside the blue line and beat goalie Jaroslav Halak with a wrist shot between the pads at 17:56, not long after Marian Hossa hit a post at the other end.
"Every team is going to have to give him respect because he can make you look bad," defenseman Tomas Kaberle said. "He's our best forward and it showed."
