Florida Panthers and New York Rangers bring 'Miami Vice' flair to Winter Classic

MIAMI (AP) — The Florida Panthers arrived in Ferraris, cigars lit, dressed in all-white “Miami Vice” attire — and, in true South Florida fashion, fashionably late.

The New York Rangers followed suit, stepping into loanDepot Park in their own whites and sunglasses.

With that, the 2026 Winter Classic was underway in warm, humid Miami.

At loanDepot Park, home of Major League Baseball's Miami Marlins, an expected sold-out crowd — with celebrity attendees that included former Super Bowl-winning quarterback Tom Brady — had already begun filling the streets hours before the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers were set to host the Rangers in the first outdoor game to take place in Florida.

The retractable roof on the ballpark — which has been shut while air conditioning has been piped in to help ice builders create a playing surface suitable for hockey — will be opened not long before the puck drops.

“I would have never thought that I would play in a Winter Classic in Miami and be a part of this cool experience," said Florida center Anton Lundell, wearing a baby pink shirt and blue handkerchief to accent his all-white suit. “Obviously we still have the game left, but everything building up to this game has been awesome. It's been very unique and an experience we're all going to remember for the rest of our lives.”

Though nowhere near as chilly as Winter Classics of years past, temperatures in Miami hovered around 60 degrees Fahrenheit just an hour before puck drop, and lows were expected to be in the low 40s overnight.

For the Rangers, forward Will Cuylie said the plan was for a day-at-the-beach look, but bathing suits were a non-starter. Not professional enough, he added.

“We thought the all-white was a good solution for that,” he said.

Florida coach Paul Maurice arrived in what he jokingly deemed an “appropriate” mode of transportation.

“I was happily on the bus,” Maurice said ahead of Friday's game.

But on his ride into the arena, Maurice took in his surroundings: the palm tree monikers lining the outside of the ballpark and the thousands of fans clad in Rangers and Panthers gear. In past decades, it would have been hard to imagine such a scene in South Florida, where the success of the back-to-back defending champion Panthers has helped exponentially grow the popularity of hockey.

“I took about 10 minutes just to think about that idea,” Maurice said. "How much different the game was 30 years ago, 20 years ago that you’re in Miami, you've got your whole team getting in the Ferraris. I didn't really think there would be that many fans outside. It was like a version of our parade.

“It is an awesome spectacle. The game itself — not just in Florida — but the pure hockey game, for me, is better than it’s ever been.”

For Panthers general manager and hockey operations president Bill Zito, the game — one that’s filled with “wonderment,” he said — represented a full-circle moment. His career path started in baseball, and on Friday, his team was playing on a baseball field.

Zito was a batboy for the Milwaukee Brewers in the early 1980s and still credits general manager Harry Dalton for what became the start of a career that saw him become an agent and then one of the top executives in the game.

“The lessons I learned from that experience impact me, and really then via me, our organization on a daily basis,” Zito said. “I’m not here today if I hadn’t had that good fortune.”

That said, his baseball ways were long ago. When he first arrived at loanDepot Park to see the setup, he asked where the locker rooms were. Baseball doesn’t use that term.

“I forgot,” Zito said. “It’s a clubhouse.”

AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds contributed.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

New York Rangers, including left wing Brett Berard, center, warm up with a soccer ball ahead of the start of the NHL Winter Classic outdoor hockey game at loanDepot Park, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Fans watch as Florida Panthers players arrive before the NHL Winter Classic outdoor hockey game between the Florida Panthers and the New York Rangers, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Florida Panthers left wing Matthew Tkachuk arrives for the NHL Winter Classic outdoor hockey game between the Florida Panthers and the New York Rangers at loanDepot Park, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Fans watch as Florida Panthers players arrive before the NHL Winter Classic outdoor hockey game between the Florida Panthers and the New York Rangers, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Florida Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling arrives for the NHL Winter Classic outdoor hockey game between the Florida Panthers and the New York Rangers, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

New York Rangers Taylor Raddysh enjoys family skate time after practice for the NHL Winter Classic outdoor hockey game, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Michael Laughlin)

New York Rangers players gather for a team picture during practice for the NHL Winter Classic outdoor hockey game, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Michael Laughlin)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard said Friday it's still searching for people in the eastern Pacific Ocean who had jumped off alleged drug-smuggling boats when the U.S. military attacked the vessels days earlier, diminishing the likelihood that anyone survived.

Search efforts began Tuesday afternoon after the military notified the Coast Guard that survivors were in the water about 400 miles (650 kilometers) southwest of the border between Mexico and Guatemala, the maritime service said in a statement.

The Coast Guard dispatched a plane from Sacramento to search an area covering more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers), while issuing an urgent warning to ships nearby. The agency said it coordinated more than 65 hours of search efforts, working with other countries as well as civilian ships and boats in the area.

The weather during that time has included 9-foot seas and 40-knot winds. The U.S. has not said how many people jumped into the water, and, if they are not found, how far the death toll may rise from the Trump administration's monthslong campaign of blowing up small boats accused of transporting drugs in the region.

The U.S. military said earlier this week that it attacked three boats traveling along known narco-trafficking routes and they “had transferred narcotics between the three vessels prior to the strikes.” The military did not provide evidence to back up the claim.

U.S. Southern Command, which oversees the region, said three people were killed when the first boat was struck, while people in the other two boats jumped overboard and distanced themselves from the vessels before they were attacked.

The strikes occurred in a part of the eastern Pacific where the Navy doesn’t have any ships operating. Southern Command said it immediately notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate search and rescue efforts for the people who jumped overboard before the other boats were hit.

Calling in the Coast Guard is notable because the military drew heavy scrutiny after U.S. forces killed the survivors of the first attack in early September with a follow-up strike to their disabled boat. Some Democratic lawmakers and legal experts said the military committed a crime, while the Trump administration and some Republican lawmakers say the follow-up strike was legal.

There have been other survivors of the boat strikes, including one for whom the Mexican Navy suspended a search in late October after four days. Two other survivors of a strike on a submersible vessel in the Caribbean Sea that same month were sent to their home countries — Ecuador and Colombia. Authorities in Ecuador later released the man, saying they had no evidence he committed a crime in the South American nation.

Under President Donald Trump's direction, the U.S. military has been attacking boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific since early September. As of Friday, the number of known boat strikes is 35 and the number of people killed is at least 115, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration.

Trump has justified the boat strikes as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.

Along with the strikes, the Trump administration has built up military forces in the region as part of an escalating pressure campaign on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who has been charged with narco-terrorism in the United States.

President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)