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EDMONTON, Alberta — The Florida Panthers did in fact make it to Edmonton on Wednesday after travel delays, and they were rather amused with all the concern ahead of Thursday’s 4-3 win in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.

“It’s just so funny how everything gets so magnified in the Cup finals,” Panthers forward Kyle Okposo said during Thursday morning’s skate. “This happens four times a year to every team in the regular season and nobody says anything. And now it’s like, ‘Oh my God, they’re not going to be able to play!'”

Torrential rain in South Florida on Wednesday caused massive flooding and significant travel delays, including the Panthers’ charter flight to Edmonton, which was delayed for a few hours. Fans and media were tracking the flight online to see when it could get to Edmonton. It landed in the 8 p.m. hour locally — about two hours after the team was scheduled to do interviews at the Edmonton Oilers‘ arena.

“I think we always knew we would get out at some point, whether we got in at 2 in the morning or whatever. We were going to get here,” Okposo said. “Everybody was just kind of having fun with it, honestly.”

Unbeknownst to players, even the Edmonton air traffic controllers were getting in on the fun. One jokingly told the pilots of the Panthers’ charter that there would be a “two-hour hold or whatever it would take for you to be low enough in fuel to have to divert from Edmonton.”

Rather than immediately fly to Edmonton after Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday night, the Panthers opted to remain in South Florida — despite weather forecasts that predicted significant rain for Wednesday.

“We pay a bunch of really smart people to have better answers than we do,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “This is the way we do it, and there are reasons for it, and I’m 100% good with it. At no point when a guy gets a cold do they come to see me on how they should fix it.

“We spent an hour at our rink, a little longer. We sat there, and our chef is unbelievable. The coaches put on 7 pounds yesterday. That’s the only ramification.”

Once on the plane, the Panthers spent an extra 90 minutes on the tarmac, Maurice said. The players passed the time as they usually do on trips: watching movies, catching up on sleep and playing cards.

“We love adversity. We got some more team bonding time. It was fun,” forward Evan Rodrigues said. “We had some guys go behind the scenes to do things that usually don’t [happen] to get us off the ground, and happy to finally take off, obviously.

“It was either we would be sitting on the plane or we were going to get here and go to the lounge and hang out together. So it made no difference for us.”

The Panthers, who have a 2-0 lead over the Oilers, said the delay did nothing to interrupt their Game 3 preparations.

“No, not at all,” defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. “We got to practice in the morning, and I got like nine hours of sleep last night, so it was great.”

Added forward Matthew Tkachuk: “It wasn’t that big of a deal, to be completely honest with you. … I think most 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 just do that and you go right to bed.”

Maurice did acknowledge the severity of the weather in South Florida.

“I’m joking around with that, but there’s some people who are struggling right now in Florida with the flooding,” he said. “So it’s a serious thing that happened there. But our day was not serious.”

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Bruins show love to emotional Marchand in return

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Bruins show love to emotional Marchand in return

BOSTON — The Little Ball of Hate still has a lot of love back in Boston.

Brad Marchand appeared to be holding back tears on the ice when the TD Garden crowd gave him a standing ovation Tuesday night during his first game as a Bruins opponent. The 37-year-old forward tapped his heart, wiped his face and waved to the crowd as both teams banged their sticks against the ice and even the referee and each linesperson clapped along.

The last remaining member of Boston’s 2011 Stanley Cup-winning team, Marchand was traded to the Panthers last season for another chance at a title. He helped Florida complete its pursuit of back-to-back championships, while the Bruins plummeted to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.

In his first game back as a Panther, the Boston crowd cheered him off the ice after the pregame warmups, as the TD Garden DJ played a mashup of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” Marchand responded with a stick salute as he headed off via the visitors bench.

Fans wearing Marchand’s Boston and Florida No. 63 jerseys cheered again during introductions for the former Bruins captain. (They booed when he drew a tripping penalty just 33 seconds into the game, then gave a mixed reaction when the Panthers scored on the power play — a goal that first appeared to be Marchand’s but was credited to Mackie Samoskevich; Marchand picked up an assist.)

But things got really emotional during a commercial break midway through the first period, when the scoreboard showed a highlight reel from Marchand’s time in Boston — including shots of him raising the Stanley Cup, and ending with him posing with the captain’s “C” that he wore for just one full season.

Florida ended up winning the game, 4-3, on a last-minute goal.

A four-time All-Star who had 422 goals and 554 assists in 16 seasons in Boston, Marchand remains in the Bruins’ top 10 for goals, assists, short-handed and overtime goals, playoff goals and points. His 1,090 games played is fourth in team history, one spot ahead of Don Sweeney, the general manager who dealt him to Florida at the trade deadline.

Marchand did play in the TD Garden as a visitor in February when he suited up for Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off. Although he was still a member of the Bruins, the Boston fans booed him.

He was traded to Florida a few weeks later as Boston sold off its roster and began a rebuild. But when the Panthers visited for the Bruins’ first home game after the trade deadline, Marchand was injured and skated on the Garden ice only in practice.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Back from IR, Oilers D Walman nets winner in OT

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Back from IR, Oilers D Walman nets winner in OT

OTTAWA — Defenseman Jake Walman, activated from injured reserve on Monday after missing the season’s first six games with an injury, scored in overtime on Tuesday night, lifting the Edmonton Oilers to a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators.

Walman, a late-season acquisition last year who helped Edmonton back to the Stanley Cup Finals, was injured in a preseason game on Sept. 21, but the 28-year-old veteran picked up where he left off on Tuesday. He finished with 25 shifts across 18:51 of ice time, and registered four blocks.

The Oilers wrapped up their five-game road trip and handed the Senators their second consecutive loss on home ice.

The Senators scored twice in a span of 1:25 to tie the game 2-2 early in the third. Ottawa got on the board after winning a puck battle along the boards. Drake Batherson dished a pass to Dylan Cozens who scored on the power play past Stuart Skinner, who made 19 saves. Just over a minute later Thomas Chabot beat a screened Skinner to tie the game.

The Oilers opened the scoring late in the first with a power-play goal when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins fed Connor McDavid, who snapped a shot from the top of the faceoff circle for his first of the season.

Edmonton extended its lead to 2-0 just 49 seconds into the second period after a turnover by the Senators. Leon Draisaitl skated in before sliding a pass back to rookie Isaac Howard, who beat Linus Ullmark, who finished with 22 saves, for his first career NHL goal.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Hughes’ 3rd career hat trick lifts surging Devils

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Hughes' 3rd career hat trick lifts surging Devils

TORONTO — Jack Hughes registered the third hat trick of his NHL career, and the New Jersey Devils defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 on Tuesday night.

Cody Glass and Brenden Dillon also scored for New Jersey, and Jake Allen had 23 saves. Jesper Bratt added three assists for the Devils, who have won five in a row since opening the season with a loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

John Tavares and Matias Maccelli scored for Toronto. Anthony Stolarz stopped 30 shots. William Nylander had two assists for the Maple Leafs, who have lost two in a row and four of six after a season-opening win.

Toronto led 1-0 after the first period before giving up three goals in the first five minutes of the second much to the dismay of the home crowd at Scotiabank Arena.

Maple Leafs defenseman Chris Tanev left with an upper-body injury during a second-period penalty kill after he collided with Devils center Dawson Mercer.

Toronto challenged New Jersey’s first goal for goaltender interference only to see the call on the ice stand. The Devils went on the power play with the ensuing delay-of-game penalty, and Glass made it 2-1 moments after Tanev skated off to the locker room.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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