SUNRISE, Fla. – The Florida Panthers often show up to work in suits. Until further notice, they're wearing robes.
Let's explain: The Stanley Cup champion Panthers got personalized bathrobes for their two-game trip to Finland last week, a gift from the team. They showed up for the two games there wearing the robes. They won both games.
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And since hockey streaks are never messed with, the robes are still in style. Every Panthers player showed up at the arena Thursday wearing their robes — which remain unbeaten. Florida beat Nashville 6-2.
“I think we're just going to ride it out until our luck runs out,” Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said.
So, the robes will be worn again when the Panthers return to the ice Saturday?
“There's a very good chance,” Tkachuk said.
It was a spur-of-the-moment idea by the Panthers to wear the robes — a nod to Finland's sauna culture — to the games in Tampere last week. The defending Stanley Cup champions decided at their morning skate Thursday to keep the new tradition alive, with captain Aleksander Barkov sending a message to the team group chat saying to wear the robes to work.
“You've got to be some kind of superstitious at some point, right?" Barkov said. "While it’s working for us, we'll keep going with that.”
Evidently, some were skeptical and thinking they were getting pranked. Aaron Ekblad was only convinced after Tkachuk snapped a photo of himself wearing his robe in his car on the way to the arena.
“Everybody thought there was a prank being played on them,” Tkachuk said. “I tell you what, it's the most comfortable thing ever. It's nice and we're having fun with it. We're a very professional team when it comes to work. We come to the rink and we work. But it's such a long year. You've got to have fun.”
Panthers general manager and hockey operations president Bill Zito said the robe idea actually started with Lucy Tallas, the wife of Florida goaltending coach Robb Tallas.
“We have to give the true credit — it was Lucy's idea," Zito said earlier this week.
Florida coach Paul Maurice loves anything that brings a team closer together, and the robe-wearing era for the Panthers seems to be something they're all enjoying.
“Those are the best that have nothing to do with anything but the players,” Maurice said. “Those are the best things that happen. It took some courage to walk into an NHL rink in a robe and I think it got them to start on time.”
Maurice got a robe in Finland as well. But he will arrive for work on Saturday in a suit, just as he did Thursday.
“Nobody — nobody — needs to see that,” Maurice said. “These fine people pay way too much money to be subjected to those nightmares.”
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