THURSDAY COMMENTARY: GAME 3

(Listen daily for the Rod Pedersen Commentary on Cat Country 98, Rock 98.5 FM & LTD Radio)

Well it’s finally here.

The Stanley Cup Final has shifted here to South Florida and tonight the Florida Panthers host the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 3 of the NHL’s championship.

It’s more than just another hockey game. So I plan to get there plenty early to take it all in, including the pregame concert by Flo Rida outside FLA Live Arena.

It’s been a long time coming, this. I’ve been very fortunate to attend Memorial Cups, Grey Cups and the Super Bowl and noticed at those events, there are two very distinct and separate components: the game, and the party.

The Stanley Cup Final seems to be very much the same and you can see why, if you’re a newbie, it’s easy to get swallowed up in it.

Especially the players. Panthers great and NHL Network analyst Bill Lindsay was on the RP Show Wednesday live from the Stanley Cup and said back in the 1996 Final, the whole series was a blur and his Florida team wound up being swept by Colorado. He wished he had another shot at it, but that chance never came.

Tonight marks the first time in 27 years that South Florida will host a Stanley Cup Final game and the Panthers find themselves eerily in the same situation as ’96: down 2-0 in the series.

I quipped to Bill that maybe he should give the team their pregame speech but he laughed and said no, that’s the job of Paul Maurice, who’s done a pretty good job so far.

And when the puck drops, I’m guessing it’ll be just another hockey game. But then again, maybe it won’t. In those other championship games I’ve attended, the opening faceoff is delayed, the commercial breaks are longer, and so are the intermissions.

It’s a lot more time for your mind to play tricks on you, and you’d better be able to stay on top of it.

Vegas has been here before. These Panthers have not; at least not the players on this team.

How will it all play out?

We’re just hours away from finding out, and I’m pretty darned grateful to be there.

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary

(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm ET on Game+ TV, WQEE, Podcast & Streaming)