PHILADELPHIA – After coming close twice before, Pittsburgh Penguins winger Tanner Pearson is anxious to play in his first outdoor NHL game, an NHL Stadium Series matchup with the Philadelphia Flyers at Lincoln Financial Field scheduled for Saturday night.
Give the weather forecast, though, his wait might extend another day.
According to the National Weather Service, rain is expected to begin at about 2 p.m. Saturday and continue through the night. The forecast calls for a 90 percent chance of precipitation. Between a half-inch and three-quarters of an inch of rain is expected.
According to a Philadelphia Inquirer report, the NHL could make a call on the status of the game on Friday but also might wait until Saturday as the forecast continues to change.
The NHL hasn’t announced a contingency plan, but logic dictates the most likely rescheduled start time would be late Sunday afternoon. The rain isn’t expected to stop until 2 p.m., and NBC would probably rather not have the game go head to head with ABC’s broadcast of the Oscars at 8 p.m.
Whenever the game is played, Pearson is looking forward to it.
He came painfully close to playing outdoors twice before in his career.
When he was a rookie in Los Angeles in 2013-14, the Kings were scheduled to face the Anaheim Ducks at Dodger Stadium on Jan. 25. Pearson was sent to the minors on Jan. 22.
A year later, the Kings were scheduled to face the San Jose Sharks on Feb. 21 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. On Jan. 10, Pearson broke his fibula.
Compared to those setbacks, a possible rain delay doesn’t have Pearson fazed.
“It’s going to be fun, one of things you can look back on,” Pearson said. “The cool part of it is definitely the weather can affect it.”
Traded from Los Angeles on Nov. 14, Pearson has been a part of the Penguins-Flyers rivalry twice now, once on the winning side and once on the losing side.
That’s enough to experience to know the outdoor game could be a wild ride, what with nearly 70,000 screaming Philadelphia Philadelphia fans adding to ambiance.
“It can kind of speak for itself,” Pearson said. “Us and Philly have a good enough rivalry. Fans come to cheer pretty loud for their teams in Philly. It will be a pretty cool atmosphere.”
