Six Nations' Brandon Montour flew home for son's birth between playoff games
Scoring the opening goal of game three of the Stanley Cup finals wasn’t the only celebration Florida Panthers defenceman Brandon Montour was a part of this week.
The NHL player, originally from Six Nations of the Grand River, also celebrated the birth of his son, Kai, between games one and two of the series final against the Las Vegas Golden Knights.
An Instagram post on Thursday from the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) shows a photo of Montour holding his son.
“I tried to get there as quick as I could, but luckily I was there for it all and got to experience it with her,” Montour described his reunion with wife Ryian in the NHPLA post.
According to an article on NHL.com, Montour hopped on a private jet, leaving Las Vegas at 11 p.m. and landing in Florida around 6:30 a.m.
Once on the ground, he went right to the hospital in Boca Raton, where he met with his wife who was still in labour, according to the article – before hopping onto another plane, and flying to Vegas with only hours to spare before game two.
"Got right there to Boca, went ot the delivery room, and it was kind of game on from there," Montour said during a post game press conference. "I was there at 6:30, and we were joking that as soon as I got there it was straight to work for her, not me.
"I tried to get there as quickly as I could. Luckily I was there for it all and got to experience it with her."
Down by two games in the series, Montour opened up game three with a goal in the first five minutes of the first period.
Carter Verhaeghe scored the overtime winner for Florida to give them the 3-2 victory. They're now down two games to one in the best-of-seven series.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories

A Black student was suspended for his hairstyle. Now his family is suing Texas officials
The family of a Black high school student in Texas who was suspended over his dreadlocks filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Saturday against the state's governor and attorney general, alleging they failed to enforce a new law outlawing discrimination based on hairstyles.
Users across Canada report outages affecting debit, credit payments
The payment processing company Moneris says it has resolved an outage that appeared to affect debit and credit transactions across the country.
Manitoba could make history by electing first First Nations premier to lead province
A First Nations premier would head a province for the first time in Canadian history if the New Democrats win the Oct. 3 Manitoba election, and the significance is not lost on party leader Wab Kinew.
Ford offers Unifor wage increases up to 25 per cent
Ford Motor has offered Canadian union Unifor wage increases of up to 25 per cent in its tentative agreement, the union said on Saturday. The agreement provides a 10 per cent wage increase for the first year followed by increases of two per cent and three per cent through the second and third year and a $10,000 productivity and quality bonus to all employees on the active roll of the company, Unifor said.
Why is Brampton rent surging 3 times faster than every other city in Canada?
Rent in Brampton shot up three times faster over the last year than the national average in Canada, according to a rental report.
1 RCMP officer killed, 2 seriously injured while executing search warrant in Coquitlam, B.C.
One RCMP officer was killed and two others were seriously injured while police were executing a search warrant at a home in Coquitlam, B.C., Friday.
EXCLUSIVE 'Shared intelligence' from Five Eyes informed Trudeau's India allegation: U.S. ambassador
There was 'shared intelligence among Five Eyes partners' that informed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's public allegation of a potential link between the government of India and the murder of a Canadian citizen, United States Ambassador to Canada David Cohen confirmed to CTV News.
'He was truly exceptional': Slain B.C. RCMP officer identified
B.C. RCMP have identified the officer killed while executing a search warrant in Coquitlam Friday morning as Const. Rick O'Brien.
'Spirit of MuchMusic' still alive at doc premiere with former VJs in attendance
While the party died years ago at MuchMusic's broadcast centre on the corner of Queen and John streets in Toronto, the screening of a new documentary on Friday proved nostalgia for the nation's music station is still very much alive.