EDMONTON, Alberta – The Florida Panthers actually traveled to Edmonton on Wednesday after travel delays, and they were rather amused by all the worry ahead of Thursday’s 4-3 victory in Game 3 of the Cup final Stanley.
“It’s so funny how everything is magnified in the Cup final,” Panthers forward Kyle Okposo said during Thursday morning’s practice. “It happens four times a year to every team in the regular season and no one says anything. And now we’re like, ‘Oh my God, they’re not going to be able to play!'”
Torrential rains in South Florida on Wednesday caused massive flooding and significant travel delays, including the Panthers’ charter flight to Edmonton, which was delayed by a few hours. Fans and media were tracking the flight online to see when it might arrive in Edmonton. He landed locally around 8 p.m., about two hours after the team was scheduled to do interviews at the Edmonton Oilers arena.
“I think we always knew we were going to get out at some point, whether we got there at 2 a.m. or whatever. We were going to get here,” Okposo said. “Honestly, everyone was just having fun with it.”
Unbeknownst to the players, even the Edmonton air traffic controllers got in on the fun. One jokingly told the Panthers pilots that there would be a “two-hour wait or whatever it takes for you to have enough fuel to have to divert from Edmonton.”
Rather than immediately flying to Edmonton after Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday night, the Panthers opted to stay in South Florida, despite weather forecasts that predicted heavy rain on Wednesday.
“We’re paying a bunch of really smart people to have better answers than us,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “That’s the way we do it, and there are reasons for it, and I agree 100%. At no time when a guy gets a cold does he come to me to find out how to fix it .
“We spent an hour at our rink, a little longer. We were sitting there and our leader is amazing. The coaches gained 7 pounds yesterday. That’s the only ramification.”
Once on the plane, the Panthers spent another 90 minutes on the tarmac, Maurice said. The players passed the time as they usually do when traveling: watching movies, catching up on sleep and playing cards.
“We like adversity. We had more time to bond as a team. It was fun,” forward Evan Rodrigues said. “We had some guys go behind the scenes to do things that don’t usually happen to get us off the ground, and they were happy to finally get off the ground, obviously.
“It was either we were going to sit on the plane or we were going to get here and go to the lounge and hang out. So it didn’t make any difference to us.”
The Panthers, who have a 2-0 lead over the Oilers, said the delay did not disrupt their preparations for Game 3.
“No, not at all,” defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. “We were able to train in the morning and I slept like nine hours last night, so that was great.”
Forward Matthew Tkachuk added: “It wasn’t that bad, to be completely honest with you. … I think most of the guys did something when they got to the hotel: pool, bike , whatever. I mean, it was a long flight. By the time you get to the hotel, you do that and go straight to bed.
Maurice recognized the harsh weather in South Florida.
“I joke about it, but there are people who are dealing with flooding in Florida right now,” he said. “So it was a serious thing that happened there. But our day wasn’t serious.”
