Penguins left wing Jason Zucker paid homage to Jaromir Jagr by doing his signature salute celebration after an early goal against the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday. It was a nice little trip down memory lane as the Penguins were wearing their Retro Reverse uniforms featuring Robo Penguin, a design from the 1990s.
Zucker sent the puck into the top right corner of the net less than 10 minutes into the first period to give his team a 1-0 lead. As he skated away, he took off his glove and did the salute toward the crowd.
The clip went viral, and Jagr himself watched it. Jagr, who played for Pittsburgh from 1990 until 2001, quickly voiced his approval on social media.
“I was seeing some comments, some people like it, some people don’t like it,” Jagr said in a video posted to Twitter. “I love it, and I feel like they showed a lot of respect for our era, for our team, because we also had a lot of great players. So thank you, Penguins. Thank you, Jason.”
It was a nice little message, but Jagr also had some fun with it. Before he stopped recording, he joked around with Zucker.
“And by the way, Jason, keep working on your shot because it wasn’t hard enough,” Jagr added.
The Sabres ended up winning that one, 6-3, but at least Zucker gave his team a fun little moment. The Penguins are planning to wear the Reverse Retro uniforms seven more times this season, so perhaps there will be more throwback surprises.
The Penguins will be back on the ice on Saturday evening when they host the Seattle Kraken.
