Panthers’ flight delayed, will arrive in Edmonton 22 hours before Game 3

The Florida Panthers were delayed by more than three hours while trying to fly to Edmonton for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday because of heavy storms in the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., area.

Their six-hour charter flight didn’t take off until 4:25 p.m. ET and was scheduled to arrive after 8 p.m. local in Edmonton — roughly 22 hours before the series is set to resume at Rogers Place on Thursday.

A torrential rainstorm saw more than 20 commercial flights canceled out of Fort Lauderdale International Airport on Wednesday. It also produced flood warnings all over South Florida.

The NHL scheduled two off days every time this Stanley Cup Final saw a shift in venues to help lessen the travel burden in a series that features the furthest distance between cities in league history.

However, the Panthers elected to take Tuesday off and skated Wednesday morning at their home practice facility before traveling, rather than flying to Edmonton on Tuesday like the Oilers did.

“We didn’t like the idea of getting them up early enough (after Game 2) to get in at a reasonable time in Edmonton,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice told reporters in Florida. “We did not see a value in it.”

Thursday’s game will be the first his team has played outside of the Eastern time zone since March 12 in Dallas.

Puck drop on Game 3 is scheduled for 6:20 p.m. local.

The Oilers log considerably more mileage throughout the season and have played playoff games in the Pacific, Mountain, Central and Eastern time zones already this spring.

Still, their Tuesday charter flight home from Fort Lauderdale required a stop in Kansas City for refueling and was so long that defenseman Mattias Ekholm had friends coming in on a flight from Amsterdam that left at almost the same time and arrived in Edmonton ahead of the one the Oilers took.

“I didn’t mind it,” Ekholm said Wednesday. “I was playing poker. The time went pretty quickly.”

Trailing 2-0 in the series, he and his teammates got to spend two nights in their own beds before playing Game 3 while the Panthers endured their travel issues.

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(Photo of Paul Maurice on the Panthers bench: Elsa / Getty Images)