Harper scores twice as Panthers thump Avalanche
SUNRISE, Fla. -- Shane Harper scored the first two goals of his NHL career to lead the Florida Panthers to a 5-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night at the BB&T Center.
The Panthers (3-1-1) scored three goals within a span of 2:26 in the third period. In order, that barrage came as the result of goals by Jonathan Marchessault, Harper and Vincent Trocheck.
Florida got second-period goals from Aaron Ekblad and Shane Harper. For Ekblad, who is just 20 years old and in his third season in the league, it was his 28th career goal, tying him for fifth place in franchise history among defensemen.
For Harper, his second-period goal was his first NHL tally in just his fifth game. He received a great assist from Greg McKegg, who was his teammate last season with the Portland Pirates of the American Hockey League.
Colorado (3-2-0) got goals from Blake Comeau in the first period and Matt Duchene in the third.
The win went to Roberto Luongo, who made 26 saves.
Colorado's Semyon Varlamov (33 saves) took the loss.
Florida overcame an apparent goal that was wiped out, which was the second time in two games that has happened to the Panthers.
This time, Jason Demers' would-be goal with 10:07 left in the first period was taken off the scoreboard after a coach's challenge by Colorado's Jared Bednar. As it turned out, Bednar was right --Trocheck was ruled offsides.
The Avalanche opened the scoring with 12:22 left in the first period on the goal by Blake Comeau, with assists from Matt Duchene and Tyson Barrie.
That ended Florida's distinction as the only NHL team this season not to allow a power-play goal. The Panthers had gone 8-for-8 on the penalty kill.
Florida tied the score on Ekblad's power-play goal with 18:30 left in the second period. After getting a great cross-ice pass from Jaromir Jagr, Ekblad one-timed a shot past Varlamov while stationed in the left circle.
The Panthers took a 2-1 lead with 2:58 left in the second period. Facing a defensive-zone faceoff, McKegg stole the puck and raced up the ice before making a brilliant cross-ice pass to Harper on the right side. Harper tapped the puck in for his first NHL goal.