The Florida Panthers have swapped suits for bathrobes in a quirky new winning tradition. During a recent two-game trip to Finland, where the Panthers won both games, the team wore personalized robes— a nod to Finnish sauna culture. Superstitions run strong in hockey, so the robes have stuck. The Panthers arrived for Thursday’s game against Nashville wearing their robes and won again, defeating Nashville 6-2.
Forward Matthew Tkachuk and captain Aleksander Barkov rallied the team to keep the robe streak alive, much to everyone’s amusement. “While it’s working for us, we’ll keep going,” Barkov said. General manager Bill Zito credited the idea to Lucy Tallas, wife of goaltending coach Robb Tallas, who suggested the robes.
Head coach Paul Maurice, however, opted for a suit, joking, “Nobody needs to see that.” The Panthers’ “robe era” is just a fun way to add some team spirit to a long season.
Robe 🧵 incoming: pic.twitter.com/MgVAMzguo2
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) November 9, 2024
The @FlaPanthers are arriving for the #NHLGlobalSeries in customized bathrobes with team logo and sweater number on each robe pic.twitter.com/o3cEwNKH2U
— Shawn Roarke (@sroarke_nhl) November 1, 2024
The Panthers showed up to Nokia Arena ahead of tonight’s game wearing robes.
— Katie Engleson (@KatieEngleson) November 1, 2024
Aleksander Barkov told me GM Bill Zito gifted the players with the robes and it was Matthew Tkachuk’s idea to wear them for their pregame fits 🇫🇮 pic.twitter.com/GxBA22aGqZ