on the goal by Harper with 2:58 left in the second. G

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Shane Harper waited a long time to score his first NHL goal. He liked the feeling so much, he scored a second one.Harper scored his first two NHL goals to lift the Florida Panthers over the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 on Saturday night.A pretty incredible feeling, said the 27-year-old rookie. Im just real excited to get that win, especially with some guys being out of the lineup right now with injuries. It just makes it even more important for everybody else to pick up some slack. Thats what were trying to do. That victory makes it so much better.Harper played in the minor leagues for the past seven years and notched 340 games in the AHL and sometimes wondered if he would ever get that first NHL goal.Theres times when you think like that for sure, Harper said. Ive been pretty confident in myself that it would come. I always thought I just needed to get my shot.Vincent Trocheck and Jonathan Marchessault each had a goal and an assist and Aaron Ekblad also scored a goal for the Panthers while Roberto Luongo made 26 saves.Matt Duchene and Blake Comeau scored goals for the Avalanche. Semyon Varlamov made 33 stops.The Panthers blew the game open in the third period as they scored three of four goals in a span of 2:26.Ahead 2-1, Marchessault skated in on a breakaway and fired the puck between the pads of Varlamov at 4:30 to make the score 3-1. Harper followed with his second goal of the game on a one-timer from in front to stretch the lead to 4-1.Duchene poked in a rebound past Luongo 16 seconds later to close the gap to 4-2.Trocheck slid a loose puck into the net at 6:56 to make the score 5-2 and shared in Harpers excitement.To see him, 27-years-old, finally get his first NHL goal and pop two in the same game, its definitely exciting to see that, Trocheck said.The Panthers took 17 shots and scored two goals in the second period.Florida had a 2-1 lead on the goal by Harper with 2:58 left in the second. Greg McKegg stole the puck from Duchene in the neutral zone and brought it down the left side. McKegg passed to Harper in front and he poked the puck over the glove of Varmalov for his first goal.He found the back of the net twice and that was real good, Panthers coach Gerard Gallant said. The kid played hard, he works hard and going hard to the net and you get rewarded.Colorado played a strong first period but faded in the second and third.Crucial mistakes at crucial times cost us. (It) was not good enough, Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog said.Trailing 1-0, the Panthers evened the score at 1-all on the power-play when Ekblad took a feed from Jagr low in the left circle and one-timed the puck past Varlamov at 1:30. Ekblad recorded his first point of the season.Comeaus power-play goal gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 7:38 of the first. Tyson Barrie shot from the blue line and Comeau tipped the puck past Luongo on the glove side. The goal was the first the Panthers have allowed on the power-play in nine opportunities.A little bit of a roller coaster for us, I think, Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. I like the way the game started, the first period, but we werent able to sustain it.A coachs challenge by Colorado overturned a goal by Jason Demers midway through the first. His slapper got past Varlamov but the officials ruled Vincent Trocheck was offsides before the shot.Colorado is coming off a four-game road trip and wont play until they host Winnipeg on Friday.We need a little rest to get ready for next weekend, Bednar said.Game notes Avalanche C John Mitchell missed the game with a lower-body injury. ... Panthers LW Jussi Jokinen missed the game with a knee injury. ... The Panthers entered the game as the only team in the NHL yet to allow a power-play goal but the streak ended in the first period.UP NEXT:Avalanche: Host Winnipeg Jets on Friday.Panthers: Visit Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday. Custom Rays T-shirts .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. Wholesale Custom Rays Shirts .Y. - Jerome Samson scored once in regulation and again in the shootout as the St. http://www.customraysjersey.com/custom-evan-longoria-jersey-large-72v.html .Y. -- Paul Byron and Matt Stajan scored as the Calgary Flames started a five-game road trip with a 2-1 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon. Custom Rays Jerseys . Nigeria beat surprise package Ethiopia 2-0 in the second leg of their playoff for a comfortable 4-1 aggregate victory. Victor Moses converted a 20th-minute penalty after an Ethiopian handball, and Victor Obinna made certain of Nigerias place in Brazil with his powerful free kick in the 82nd at UJ Esuene Stadium. Authentic Custom Rays Jersey .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Dhoni runs Taylor out - without looking The day before the Ranchi ODI, MS Dhoni left Ross Taylor and Tom Latham gawking by driving past the New Zealand team bus in his hummer, with sunglasses on. On Wednesday, Dhoni left Taylor smiling wryly after running him out with a cunning back-hand flick, with sunglasses on. Taylor had just heaved a length ball to the left of Dhawal Kulkarni at fine leg. The fielder swiftly collected the ball and threw it at chest height to Dhoni, who nonchalantly deflected it back onto the leg stump - as he often does - his back facing the crease. Cue in massive cheers from Dhonis home crowd. The Mishra drop I Amit Mishra is the second-oldest member in Indias squad, behind Dhoni, and probably the least athletic of the lot. Mishras issues in the field were put in the spotlight in the seventh over. Martin Guptill, who was in the mood to hit out, had looked to shovel an Umesh Yadav slower ball straight down the ground. The lack of pace meant Guptill dragged it in the air to the left of mid-on. Mishra lumbered in, dived, but the ball merely grazed his left hand and bobbled onto the ground. Not a straightforward chance by any measure, but Mishra could have had a go had he reacted quicker.The Mishra drop II The day would get worse for Mishra in the field. After dropping Guptill on 29, Mishhra botched a much simpler catch at long-off when Guptill was on 62.dddddddddddd Seeing a short, wide delivery, Guptill belted it down the ground. It could have been a regulation catch for Mishra had he stayed on the edge of the long-off boundary. Instead, he ran in. Realising he had misjudged the ball, he did not leap as he stretched his hands upwards to intercept the ball. It wasnt enough. The ball went over his head and then plonked behind him for a one-bounce four. Scott Styris, who was on TV commentary at the time, quipped: Guptill picked out the right fielder. Guptill went on to make 72.Latham shows them how its done Latham plucked two sharp catches, which highlighted the gulf between the two teams in the field, towards the end of the chase. When Manish Pandey unleashed a fierce bottom-handed shovel against a Tim Southee slower ball in the air in the 33rd over, Latham timed his jump to perfection and took with catch with both his hands over his head at mid-on. Mitchell Santner, who was at midwicket, also leapt in his position in a neat synchronised routine. Three overs later, Latham ran to his left from wide long-off to track down a loft from Hardik Pandya with precision. ' ' '