Greg Cote: Panthers celebrate Cup with opening win. But should game have been played?

MIAMI — It was a celebration a long time coming Tuesday night — the first time in 31 franchise seasons the Florida Panthers had ever skated onto the ice in the regular season as reigning NHL champions. And the home fans acted in kind in a packed Sunrise arena ready for a party.

The Stanley Cup was in the house and the championship banner rose pregame as if floating on air. It was just about a perfect evening in South Florida’s hockey history — one capped by a 6-4 victory over Boston with six fights for spice on a special, sold-out Opening Night.

But should the game have even been played?

I wish it had been postponed. Not because it had to be, but because it would have felt right.

Hurricane Milton is bearing down on Florida, on our state, the unavoidable deadly devastation to strike on Wednesday. The fates have spared us in South Florida from anything but the periphery of it. But those in the Tampa Bay area, just a few hours to the northwest, won’t be as lucky.

You don’t prepare for a hurricane of this magnitude. There is no bracing for it, only running from it, and hoping or praying.

With all of Tampa Bay under urgent evacuation orders and 15-foot storm surges feared, Tampa mayor Jane Castor issued a dire warning to residents on Tuesday, flatly telling those who do not leave, “You will die.”

The NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning fled their imperiled city Monday night for Raleigh, N.C. The NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers left Tuesday for safe haven in New Orleans.

Zoo Miami was closed Tuesday. The Miami Heat postponed scheduled preseason games here Wednesday and Thursday.

On Monday, the Panthers, citing “an abundance of caution” as Hurricane Milton approached, canceled a public Champions Ring Ceremony scheduled for that evening at the arena.

Tuesday, staffers in town for the Cats’ opener from NHL.com and the league were ordered home for fear flights out might be soon canceled.

Yet Tuesday, the deadly hurricane closer to landfall, Opening Night went on as scheduled.

I wish the “abundance of caution” in canceling the public ring ceremony had been followed by an abundance of concern in postponing the opener. It would have been a symbolic show of solidarity with Tampa Bay, a powerful statement that sometimes the fun and games must bow in reverence to real life.

Many may not agree.That’s fine. Let’s bring back civil discourse, shall we?

All of South Florida is under a tropical storm warning and flood alert this week, even though we will miss the brunt of it. NBC6 meteorologist John Morales said Tuesday he estimates Miami-Dade and Broward may get sustained winds of around 35 miles per hour this week and gusts in the 50s. How lucky we are.

To reiterate, I understand the Panthers did not have to cancel Tuesday’s opener and I am not bashing the club for not doing so. I just wish they had. It would have been a powerful gesture of support for Tampa — to not be celebrating in the very hours so many of our fellow Floridians so near are quite literally escaping for their lives to avoid the worst.

Hurricane Milton was a maximum Category 5 hurricane that became a Cat 4 then restrengthened to Cat 5. Both categories are described with one particular word in common:

“Catastrophic.”

Folks in North Carolina are still digging out from the worst of Hurricane Helene, which killed more than 200 and left almost $40 billion in damages in its wake.

It is feared Hurricane Milton may be worse — the worst in a lifetime for residents of Greater Tampa Bay.

So the Panthers’ opener went on as scheduled against the rival Bruins, one game of 82. Four Cats goals came in the first period, Sam Bennett and Eetu Luostarinen scoring one minute apart, and later Sam Reinhart and Bennett also a minute apart. Jonah Gadjovich made the horn blast in the second period and Evan Rodrigues in the third. Impressively, all four Panthers lines produced a goal.

Florida winning a second straight championship still is considered unlikely. A panel of 22 ESPN hockey experts predicted the next Cup winner and Edmonton got 11 votes and Dallas eight. Three others (not including Florida) got one vote each.

But does any of that really matter right now? As Hurricane Milton barrels in threatening massive, perhaps unprecedented destruction? Home fans cheering is almost always a wonderful sound, and those who did so Tuesday are guilty of absolutely nothing. But the cheering doesn’t fall as comfortably on the ear, for me, when one imagines the simultaneous fear, desperation and dread a couple of hours northwest.

I have seldom ever covered a sporting event with my mind more elsewhere.

“Thoughts and prayers” have become an American cliche, what we say when we feel helpless.

I wish there were a better way to convey to all of Tampa Bay they are in our hearts — and how little sports matter in our state this week.

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