NEW YORK -- The Anaheim Ducks' four-game road trip to the East Coast got off to a turbulent start Sunday with a cross-country journey they won't soon forget.
Their voyage from Southern California to New York took 15 hours with a three-hour time difference tossed into the mix. It included having to change airports -- and airplanes -- because of rerouting and mechanical issues.
"It was a long shift," Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said after putting his jet-lagged team through a morning skate Monday in advance of playing the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden (7 p.m. ET; FOXLA+, Prime Video, MSG).
The travel day started at 8:30 a.m. PT. The players, coaches and traveling staff either took a team bus or drove themselves to John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California, to be on time for a scheduled 9:30 a.m. departure.
That's normal.
The problem, however, was the team plane never got there. It had to be re-routed to Los Angeles International Airport, known to travelers as LAX.
So, the Ducks boarded a bus at John Wayne Airport and left at 10:30 a.m. PT to drive to LAX.
Everyone boarded the soon-to-be inoperable plane by 11:30.
They then sat and waited all the way until 5 p.m. PT.
The plane couldn't take off because of mechanical issues.
"We watched football, snapped cards around a bit," defenseman Jackson LaCombe said. "Honestly, just good with it the whole time. It was good camaraderie hanging with the guys."
LaCombe said the players were watching NFL RedZone the entire time. In fact, he said they were talking on the plane about how fortunate they were that this was happening to them on a Sunday so they could at least watch NFL games.
It might have felt much longer on a random Tuesday when they would have to find another way to entertain themselves.
"It kept the spirits high," LaCombe. "It was good."
At 5 o'clock, after sitting on the plane for nearly six hours, the Ducks were told to deplane because a new ride had arrived.
They got off on the tarmac, walked 50 feet to the new plane, boarded and got settled, and then, mercifully went down the runway and took off at 6:05 p.m. PT, beginning the cross-country flight to Newark Liberty International Airport.
They touched down in Newark, New Jersey, at 1:45 a.m. ET.
"I think we hit everything yesterday," defenseman Nick Jensen said.
The positive? No traffic from Newark into Manhattan at that time of the day, allowing the Ducks to arrive at their hotel by 2:30 a.m. Monday.
"It was definitely different, but nothing you can do about it, obviously," LaCombe said. "It happens. Just have to forget about it and go play."
Despite it all, they kept to their schedule and were on the ice for their morning skate at 11:30 ET.
"It's better than just sitting in your bed all day," forward Frank Vatrano said. "Tried to get out here and move around."
Quenneville liked what he saw.
"I thought we had a decent practice out here today, (so) let's come ready to play tonight," he said. "They handled it like pros, and so here we are today. Let's play hockey."
That's the plan -- after a much-needed afternoon nap, of course.
"Definitely a first," forward Cutter Gauthier said. "I mean, you can't really prepare for anything like that. It was unfortunate. But if we (whine) and complain about it it's not going to help us win a game tonight. We're past that and we're focused on New York tonight."
