Florida Panthers: Shane Harper Sparks Big Win Over Avalanche
Now that was a hockey game. Maybe the score didn’t justify just how electric that game was, then again it wasn’t even the competitiveness of the two teams that made this one a memorable one.
It’s something about the nature of the fourth line energy player that can bring you out of your seat just as quickly as the team’s top line star. The love, passion, and pure enjoyment that player displays, sometimes just for getting an opportunity at the sport’s highest level.
These guys make every shift seem like it is going to be their last, for some, at every given moment, it could be. Others are getting their first opportunities to play in the NHL after years of working and grinding their way just for a shot to do so, and if they let up for just one second they can blow it and never get back into that position.
Shane Harper fits that mold to a letter ‘T’. At 27 years old, the California native is getting his first opportunity to play in the NHL, after a long trek to get their.
Undrafted, Harper played as an overage player in the Western Hockey League, before turning pro and spending the next five seasons in between the AHL and ECHL levels. Playing for the Chicago Wolves in 2014-2015, Harper registered 32 goals and still didn’t get an opportunity to move up to the next level.
That culminated in Harper scoring not only his first, but second career goals, as well as getting in his first NHL fight.
With the game up in the air, Harper scored two of the team’s next three goals (Jon Marchessault sandwiched his third of the season in the middle) as a part of four straight overall by the Panthers.
After leading a two on one with Derek MacKenzie, Harper forced a pass to the team’s captain that was broken up for a missed opportunity.
It was a big win for the Panthers, as they erased a two game losing streak they were on right before they embarked on a four game road trip that will take them to the end of the month.
For Harper it was a validation game of sorts, showing why management decided to keep him on the roster, and what he is perfectly capable of producing every now and again. It’s the team’s that can rely on their third and fourth lines to come up with big games here and there that end up making the longest run during the postseason.
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