It’s likely that the memories of how the Florida Panthers won their first Eastern Conference finals game in 27 years will last even longer than Thursday’s game.
As the Panthers won Game 1 of the best-of-seven series 3-2, Matthew Tkachuk scored with 12.7 seconds left in the fourth overtime.
Guys cracking Red Bulls before the fourth overtime,” Tkachuk said. “There was pizza flowing. It was pretty funny.”
For both teams, it was the longest game in franchise history and the sixth-longest in NHL history. Rod Brind’Amour called it “the worst way to lose a game.”.
Tkachuk scored his sixth goal of the playoffs after Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky and Carolina’s Frederik Andersen displayed incredible goaltending. In the second period, Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe scored for the Panthers, improving to 5-0 in overtime games this postseason. Anthony Duclair assisted on both regulation goals, while Barkov and Verhaeghe each assisted on the other.
He played well, but so did Freddie,” Hurricanes forward Martin Necas said. “Both goalies were great. They got a nice goal at the end.”
During regulation, Seth Jarvis and Stefan Noesen scored power-play goals for the Hurricanes. Andersen stopped 57 shots for Carolina, which had gone 3-0 in overtime in the postseason.
For both teams, it was the longest Stanley Cup playoff game since the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 in five overtimes on Aug. 11, 2020.
Despite the game’s grueling nature, players tried to ignore it. Radko Gudas, Panthers defenseman, said: “It got harder and harder.”. Hurricanes will host Game 2 on Saturday at 1:54 a.m. ET.
For the seventh time in eight road games this postseason, the Panthers won a conference finals game for the first time since 1996. Ryan Lomberg appeared to have scored the winning goal 2:35 into the first overtime, but Colin White was ruled to have committed goalie interference, cancelling out Lomberg’s goal.
“We knew we’d get it,” Lomberg said after returning after an eight-game absence due to an upper-body injury. “We just didn’t know how long it would take.”
Andersen stopped Florida’s Brandon Montour, who was left alone in front of the net, early in the third overtime period. Bobrovsky continued to be tested by the Hurricanes.
It was a good goalie battle, Brind’Amour said. “It was unfortunate that we didn’t find that one.” In third overtime, the Panthers held an 11-8 advantage.
The game was a battle, Carolina captain Jordan Staal said. “It was playoff hockey for sure.”
The defenseman played 57 minutes, 17 seconds in the game. Carolina led 9-1 in shots in the first nine minutes of the third period with Noesen’s tying goal, his fourth of the postseason.
In the third period, after the Panthers pulled ahead late in the second, the Hurricanes outshot Florida 14-2. With 4:32 left in the second period, Barkov scored his third postseason goal to tie the game at 1-1.
His sixth goal of the playoffs put him in a tie for the team lead with 2:17 left in the second period. With 11.1 seconds to play in the opening period, Jarvis scored his fifth goal of the playoffs. Aho’s pass connected with Jarvis.
For the first time since breaking his hand against the New York Islanders in Game 2 of the first round, Hurricanes forward Teuvo Teravainen played.