CALGARY -- Panthers' coach Gerard Gallant knew Dmitry Kulikov was going to miss Friday's game with a case of the flu but the team's second victim came as quite a surprise.
Aleksander Barkov was forced to come off the ice during warmups. The Panthers quickly called Vincent Trocheck to tell him he was playing.
Since he thought he was a scratch, he and Brandon Pirri were taking their time in getting to the arena.
Trocheck would quickly get on his horse.
"We left the hotel at 6:30, grabbed some dinner. Luckily I stayed light and got a salad,'' said Trocheck, who was sporting a nasty cut near his right eye after being checked into the boards in the first.
"There was a ton of traffic on the way here and we were going slow. Then they wouldn't let us into the gate and we had to walk with all of our luggage. It was a day, I guess. That's a first.''
Trocheck made it to the Panthers bench just as the anthems had finished. He took Barkov's spot centering Huberdeau and Boyes.
"I literally ran through the halls,'' Trocheck said. "I was in the cab at 6:57 and on the ice by 7:04.''
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