Florida is one hell of a drug — and so is playoff hockey.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce made the trip to Amerant Bank Arena to watch the Florida Panthers take on the Edmonton Oilers in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final. The pair have been spending time in South Florida during the NFL offseason, Thursday night marked the first time either attended a hockey game while in town.
Both sported red for the occasion (Kelce with an all-red outfit, Swift with bright red lipstick) and Kelce was later spotted celebrating after the Panthers’ first goal of the night.
Swift, whose recent Eras Tour became the highest-grossing tour of all time, made headlines last month when she bought the rights to the master recordings of her first six albums.
While there was plenty of bad blood on the ice in Game 4, Swift and Kelce generated plenty of off-ice buzz from the nearly 20,000 fans in the building, with arena staff even making several nods to Swift during the game.
After a dominant 3-0 first period for Florida put the Oilers down bad, “Style” played as the Panthers left the ice for first intermission, per ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski. And when the Oilers masterminded an equally-strong second period to tie the game 3-3, the arena music reminded the Panthers to “Shake it Off”.
Swift and Kelce spent part of that second period with Wayne Gretzky, who stopped by their suite in between his duties for TNT’s broadcast panel.
“I don’t know Pink Pony but I know her,” Wayne Gretzky (who professed his unfamiliarity for “Pink Pony Club” singer Chappell Roan earlier in the series) said of Swift postgame.
The TNT broadcast also caught the pair’s reaction after a last-minute goal from Sam Reinhart sent the game to overtime, with Swift appearing to say “my heart” while patting her chest.
Kelce, a three-time Super Bowl winner with the Kansas City Chiefs, has a long history as a hockey fan, and he and his brother Jason Kelce have more recent connections to both teams in the series. Earlier this season, Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk (as well as his brother Brady) made an appearance on the Kelces’ New Heights podcast following their success at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February.
Gretzky, too, was a recent guest on the show, joining the brothers for an episode last month.
Swift, too, has ties to the sport, having appeared in a Nashville Predators commercial early in her career. She also once met then-Hurricanes forward Jeff Skinner, who now plays in Edmonton, and posed for a photo that the Oilers posted to celebrate her appearance on Thursday.
The team later referenced her song “How You Get The Girl” to celebrate Leon Draisaitl’s overtime game-winning goal.
With the series now tied 2-2, the Panthers and Oilers will head to Edmonton for Game 5 on Saturday night as they chase their wildest dreams of the Stanley Cup.
