NEW YORK, 28 January 2004 — Jaromir Jagr picked up a goal and two assists in his home debut at Madison Square Garden to lead the New York Rangers to a 5-2 win over the Florida Panthers on Monday.

Jagr made his first appearance with the Rangers in Ottawa Saturday, a 9-1 drubbing at the hands of the Senators.

It was a much better display by New York Monday and the crowd gave the former Washington Capitals right wing a lengthy ovation after he scored his 17th goal of the season, and first as a Ranger, in the third period.

Jagr’s marker after 33 seconds of the final session put the Rangers ahead 3-1 and proved the game-winning goal. “It was a relief to score the goal, for sure,” he told reporters.

The 31-year-old played on a line with Eric Lindros and he said that would need time to flourish.

The Rangers snapped a four-game losing streak and six-game winless run (0-4-2), moving two points ahead of Florida into 10th place in the Eastern Conference.

Petr Nedved, Mark Messier, Matthew Barnaby and Brian Leetch also netted for the Rangers, who are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games against the Panthers. Jussi Markkanen made 38 saves in goal for the Rangers, who were out-shot 40-38. Byron Ritchie and Kristian Huselius tallied for the Panthers.

In Dallas, Teppo Numminen scored with 6:02 remaining in regulation time to earn the Stars a 2-2 tie with the Detroit Red Wings. Numminen beat Manny Legace with a shot that slid under the Detroit goalie to make the Stars 4-1-1 in their last six games. Legace stopped 27 shots for the Red Wings, who have only one win from five games (1-2-2).

David Oliver grabbed the other goal for the Stars, who were given a 24-save performance by Marty Turco.

Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom replied for the Red Wings.

In Los Angeles, the Kings shared a 2-2 tie with the Minnesota Wild. Richard Park and Jim Dowd tallied for the Wild, Jon Sim and Luc Robitaille replying for the Kings.

Senators Coach Martin Gets Contract Extension

The Ottawa Senators gave head coach Jacques Martin a multi-year contract extension Monday. Terms were not announced but the club said the contract was for several seasons. The 51-year-old Martin is in his eighth season with the Senators, the longest tenure of any current NHL coach.

Ottawa is one point behind Toronto and Philadelphia for first-place overall in the Eastern Conference standings.