Florida Panthers Keep Eye on Tropical Storm Nicole

The Carolina Hurricanes are scheduled to fly into Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday to face the Florida Panthers — while a potential real-life hurricane appears headed this way.

As of right now, the game between the Panthers and Hurricanes is still on as scheduled for Wednesday night at 7 p.m.

But that could change at any point.

On Monday, Broward County was placed under a Hurricane Watch as Tropical Storm Nicole may turn into a Category 1 hurricane before landfall.

Miami-Dade County is under a Tropical Storm Watch.

Broward County — home of the Panthers’ FLA Live Arena in Sunrise — is currently in the cone of concern for the storm.

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According to the Miami Herald, the storm could bring heavy rain, dangerous storm surge and strong winds to the east coast of Florida.

Forecast models show the storm crossing over the Bahamas and west toward Florida with potential landfall sometime Wednesday or early Thursday.

The Hurricanes hockey team would be traveling to Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday afternoon so a decision on Wednesday night’s game would likely be made sometime tomorrow before the team takes off from Raleigh.

The Panthers are practicing at the arena on Tuesday and the status of the game should be known by then.

If the region was placed under a Hurricane Warning at any point, the game would be postponed due to public safety concerns.

Even if that was not the case by Tuesday, the NHL would be reticent to send a team into the path of a storm with any possibility the game itself would be postponed.

Carolina will play host to Edmonton on Thursday night so it may make sense just to allow the team to stay home. The Oilers will play in Sunrise on Saturday afternoon.

Finding a make-up date for Wednesday’s game would not be a problem since it is so early in the season.

Last December, Florida’s road game against the Hurricanes was postponed due to Covid and rescheduled for February.

PANTHERS ON DECK

CAROLINA HURRICANES AT FLORIDA PANTHERS

• When: Wednesday, 7 p.m.
• Where: FLA Live Arena, Sunrise
• TV/Streaming: Bally Sports Florida; ESPN+
• Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932
• Last season: Florida won 3-0
  
• All-time regular season series: Carolina leads 69-45-10, 11 ties