In what may have been the latest starting game in Madison Square Garden history, the Raiders outlasted the Ottawa Nationals on Friday night, December 22, After an 11-hour bus ride from Ottawa.
The Nationals didn't arrive in New York until 8:50 for a game originally scheduled to begin at 7:30. The weary Ottawans had to change into their uniforms immediately and took the ice a few minutes after Camille Henry ordered his men on.
After both teams warmed up, the game finally got under way at 9:40. Because the arena had to be readied for
a Saturday concert by the rock group Grand Funk Railroad, the Raiders and Nats had to be off the ice by midnight, To accomplish this, the clubs played with only a three-minute rest break between the first and second periods. (The Hockey Spectator, January 12 1973)
Marco Polo Had It Easy. More travel travails of the Nationals.