SUNRISE, Fla. Bashaud Breeland Jersey . -- When Roberto Luongo learned he wouldnt be starting the Heritage Classic, the disappointed goaltender asked agent Pat Brisson to call Vancouver Canucks general manager Mike Gillis just to get a read on his future. When Gillis gave Brisson permission to seek out a potential trade partner for the goalie and his massive contract, the attention turned quickly to the Panthers -- and not just because Luongo calls South Florida home. "It had to be a hockey move," Brisson said. "Roberto wants to play, wants to win. He wants to compete and win. ... When Roberto asked me, I said, I do believe that theres a light at the end of the tunnel for (the Panthers)," Brisson said. "I do believe theres a place where this team is going to go in the right direction." While the Canucks head in the direction of a rebuild, the Panthers look like a team on the upward climb thanks to new owner Vinny Viola and a cadre of young prospects GM Dale Tallon has assembled in the NHLs southernmost market. Through two games with his new team, Luongo has already caught a glimpse of what he and many hockey people believe is a bright future for the Panthers. Luongo sees potential stars in Jonathan Huberdeau, Nick Bjugstad and a handful more young players around the locker-room. At 34 years old, he wants to contribute to the revival of the franchise rather than riding coattails. "Its all about making a commitment to bringing some people in and trying to build a winner," Luongo said Sunday night after facing the Boston Bruins. "Thats what its all about for me. Im not here to fade into the sunset. I want to be part of something special coming here." Something special in the short term might just mean making the playoffs after missing in 11 of the past 12 seasons. Even as the Panthers head toward another early off-season, Bjugstad hopes its just "growing pains" as part of an important learning experience. Thats to be expected for a team whose top players include 18-year-old Aleksander Barkov, 20-year-old Huberdeau, and 22-year-old Erik Gudbranson. Players were on a bus in Boston when they found out Luongo was coming and represented something of a safety valve for mistakes of youth. "Any time you can have a solid goaltender behind you, it gives you confidence that you can make some plays," said 20-year-old forward Vincent Trocheck, who made his Panthers debut the same game Luongo returned. "If you do make a mistake, you know that hes back there to save your butt, basically." Yet in the larger scope, Luongo is not being asked to save a franchise by himself. It is, however, Tallons hope that trading for him "sets the tone" for the organization. The message of taking on the final eight-plus years and over US$28 million of Luongos contract was that the Panthers are willing to spend. Hours after making the move, Tallon said it was about making good on all the talk about wanting to win a Stanley Cup because "talk is cheap." Doing so could be expensive, but its not out of the realm of possibility that Florida has a better chance of winning a Cup in the next four or five years than Vancouver. "You never know," Luongo said. "Its tough to say. You hope so. Thats why Im here. I think the pieces are definitely here, just a matter of making sure that we bring the right piece to complement these young guys that are talented and theyre going to be stars in this league." Tallon has a plan. After already taking the goaltending gamble that was Jacob Markstrom out of the equation and getting Luongo, he has his sights set on signing, drafting or trading for two power wingers to support Barkov, Huberdeau, Bjugstad and Trocheck. The Panthers payroll is the lowest in the league at just over US$50 million, but with Viola in charge, Tallon expects to be "a cap team or close to a cap team" next season. Having almost $30 million of cap space could help the Panthers continue down the path to being a contender, but it also helps to have Luongo as a salesman and a symbol of the clubs all-out push to get better. "Its hard to recruit anybody if they dont think youre doing the right thing," Tallon said. "I think the commitment of making that deal and the commitment that Vinny Violas going to make ... will really influence a lot of decisions as far as players wanting to come here, seeing that were really committed to winning." Luongo didnt keep close tabs on the Panthers rebuild while he was playing for the Canucks because he didnt expect to get traded, let alone back to Florida. But Brisson, who just negotiated a two-year extension for winger Brad Boyes, had a good sense of what was happening. New ownership meant a new opportunity for Luongo. "If it was back to the former ownership where they werent sure what they wanted to spend, what they wanted to do, I wouldnt have recommended it at the time -- absolutely not," Brisson said. "If you look at good ownership and willingness to spend and the right chef, so to speak, the right cook in the kitchen, its an attractive place for Roberto and the players that are there." Tallon is that chef, and he has quite the recipe on his resume. Even though Stan Bowman was the general manager when the Blackhawks won the 2010 Stanley Cup, Tallon orchestrated much of the turnaround in Chicago. "It went well for them," Bjugstad said. "Thats kind of what were banking on." For every Blackhawks success story theres another example like the Edmonton Oilers, who are set to miss the playoffs for the eighth straight season despite three straight No. 1 picks and six in the top 10. They provide a cautionary tale for the Panthers, even as Tallon rattles off prospect after prospect who could make a difference. Each one of those young, unproven players represents essentially a raffle ticket for Florida, another chance to hit it big. But theres plenty of risk and uncertainty in that. "Obviously weve got to prove ourselves before we can get too excited," Bjugstad said. "Theres a ways to go." In Luongo, the young Panthers get a goalie who is already established. Even if his play is not Vezina Trophy-calibre, he could instill plenty of confidence on and off the ice. "I think maybe as more of an experienced guy in the locker-room to bring whatever I have learned over the years and maybe help them out along the way as far as just being a pro and all that kind of stuff to help their development," Luongo said. That team-wide development and progression toward a playoff team is still in the "early" stages, according to Tallon. Luongos addition speeds it up, but theres still no set goal on when he figures the Panthers will get over the hump. "I dont put numbers on that," he said. "I just let the players start to develop and see when theyre ready to make a real hit on the team as far as moving forward. And when they all come together as a group, as a team, not just in a group of individuals, thats when you pretty well know when youve got something special." Jerry Mays Jersey . Johnny Manziel, college footballs most entertaining player with the reputation for pulling off magical plays, was selected with the No. Ty Law Jersey . Altidore strained his left hamstring in the Americans opener against Ghana on June 16 and didnt play in their next two games. "We dont know how much because we need to see how hes going, but hes available," U. http://www.customchiefsjersey.com/custom-darron-lee-jersey-large-1496n.html . The Toronto Blue Jays star won his second consecutive Hank Aaron Award as the most outstanding offensive performer in the AL on Monday after votes by fans and a panel of Hall of Famers were tallied.SAN JOSE, Calif. - Patrick Marleau, Barclay Goodrow and James Sheppard each had a goal and an assist, and the San Jose Sharks used a five-goal second period to beat the Anaheim Ducks 6-3 on Thursday night.Joe Pavelski scored in the first as the Sharks improved to 4-0-1 against the division-leading Ducks this season. Antti Niemi made 25 stops in his third consecutive win, helping San Jose extend its home winning streak against Anaheim to seven.Andrew Cogliano, Matt Beleskey and Patrick Maroon scored for the Ducks, who allowed six goals in their previous five games. Anaheim had won six in a row.Ducks goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov made 19 saves before being replaced by Frederik Andersen late in the second period.BLUES 5, PREDATORS 4, SOST. LOUIS (AP) — Kevin Shattenkirk scored in the shootout, lifting St. Louis to the win.Jaden Schwartz, T.J. Oshie, Steve Ott and Ryan Reaves scored in regulation for the Blues (30-13-4), who improved to 8-0-1 over their last nine games. Brian Elliott made 33 saves.Mike Fisher had two goals and an assist for Nashville (31-10-6), which fell to 12-8-5 on the road. Carter Hutton made 31 saves.The Predators, who also got goals from Filip Forsberg and James Neal, finished 3-1-1 against the Blues this season.LIGHTNING 5, RED WINGS 1TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Cedric Paquette had three goals, sending Tampa Bay to a franchise-record ninth consecutive home win.Steven Stamkos and Mark Barberio also scored for the Lightning, who leapfrogged the Red Wings into first place in the Atlantic Division by a point. Jonathan Drouin and Alex Killorn had two assists apiece.Tampa Bay took a 4-1 lead at 11:03 of the second when Paquette completed his first hat trick from the right circle during a short-handed 2-on-1. The centre has four goals in the past two games after going 29 straight without one.Darren Helm scored for Detroit, which had won six in a row.Paquette opened the scoring 2:03 into the game when he used his backhand to beat Petr Mrazek on a rebound. His right-circle goal gave Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead with 36.2 seconds left in the first.STARS 6, SENATORS 3OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Jamie Benn scored two goals, and the Stars beat the Senators in Jason Spezzas first game in Ottawa since he was traded to Dallas in the off-season.John Klingberg, Colton Sceviour, Ales Hemsky and Trevor Daley also scored for Dallas, and Kari Lehtonen made 25 saves.Mika Zibanejad, Bobby Ryan and Alex Chiasson scored for Ottawa. Robin Lehner, making his first start since January 13th, stopped 35 shots.Spezza made his NHL debut with Ottawa in 2002 and had spent his entire career with the Senators before the trade. The former Senators captain got a standing ovation from the crowd of 18,752 following a video tribute early in the first period.The Stars grabbed a 4-3 lead midway through the third period when Klingberg took advantage of an Ottawa turnover to break in alone and beat Lehner with a wrist shot.BRUINS 5, ISLANDERS 2UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) — Bostons Kevan Miller scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period, and Tuukka Rask stopped 43 shots.Reilly Smith, Patrice Bergeron, Torey Krug and Zdeno Chara also scored for Boston, which won for the seventh time in 10 games. Smith and Milan Lucic also had two assists apiece.John Tavares and Michael Grabner scored for New York, and Jaroslav Halak stopped 28 shots. The Metropolitan Division-leading Islanders dropped to 17-5 at home this season.Miller put the Bruins ahead for good with 3.4 seconds lleft in the second. Matt Moore Jersey. . He intercepted Halaks clearing attempt at the right-wing boards just inside the blue line, and fired a quick shot that lifted Boston to a 3-2 lead.COYOTES 3, MAPLE LEAFS 1TORONTO (AP) — Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored off the opening faceoff of the third period, and Arizona rallied for the road win.Ekman-Larssons 13th goal was a harmless flip from almost his own blue line and seemed to stun the already-subdued crowd. At five seconds, the short-handed goal tied the fastest of any kind to start a period in Coyotes franchise history, matching Doug Smail of the first Winnipeg Jets in 1981.Martin Hanzal had a tiebreaking goal at 3:47 of the third, and Sam Gagner added a power-play goal with 3 1/2 minutes left.Mike Smith had 24 saves for Arizona.Jonathan Bernier finished with 42 stops for Toronto.CANADIENS 1, RANGERS 0NEW YORK (AP) — Max Pacioretty scored with 4:17 left, sending Montreal to the road win.Pacioretty converted a wrist shot from above the right circle that appeared to surprise Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist. It squeezed inside the right post for Paciorettys 22nd goal.That was enough to give Carey Price his 26th win and third shutout of the season in a stellar 24-save effort for Montreal, which has won four in a row — three with Price in net.Lundqvist made 25 saves for the Rangers, who have lost two straight following the All-Star break and managed only one goal. They were beaten 4-1 by the Islanders on Tuesday.WILD 1, FLAMES 0CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Zach Parise scored in the first period for Minnesota, and Devan Dubnyk stopped 30 shots.It was Parises sixth goal in his last six games and No. 20 on the season. Thomas Vanek assisted on the only score 8:59 into the game.Minnesota (22-20-6) moved within five points of the Flames and the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The Wild have picked up five of six possible points so far on a four-game trip that wraps up Sunday in Vancouver.Calgary (26-20-3) dropped to 1-1 on a six-game homestand, which continues Saturday against Edmonton. Jonas Hiller had 31 saves.FLYERS 5, JETS 2PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Wayne Simmonds, Chris VandeVelde, Nick Schultz and Brayden Schenn scored, leading Philadelphia to its fourth win in five games.Sean Couturier added an empty-netter, and Steve Mason made 36 saves.Mathieu Perreault scored twice for the Jets. Michael Hutchinson had 27 stops.Schultz snapped a tie game in the second period with his first goal of the season, ending a 125-game drought. Petra Straka got his first NHL point on the assist, and Ryan White also had his first assist of the season on the goal.PANTHERS 3, BLUE JACKETS 2SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Sean Bergenheim scored late in the third period, and Florida snapped a five-game losing streak.Aaron Ekblad and Jonathan Huberdeau also scored for the Panthers, and Roberto Luongo made 30 saves.It was Floridas first win over Columbus since a 5-2 victory on Nov. 21, 2007 — a span of 11 games.Alexander Wennberg and Jack Johnson scored for the Blue Jackets, and Curtis McElhinney stopped 29 shots.OILERS 3, SABRES 2EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Anton Lander scored his first goal of the season for Edmonton, and also had two assists.Matt Fraser and Oscar Klefbom also scored for Edmonton (13-27-9), which has won three of four.Defencemen Tyler Myers and Rasmus Ristolainen scored for the Sabres (14-31-3), who have lost a franchise-worst 13 games in a row and only have one win in their last 18. ' ' '