Fans of the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes are going to need some coffee in the morning, assuming they wake up before noon. In Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final, the teams played the sixth- longest game in NHL history, with the Panthers prevailing in quadruple overtime.
Just 2:35 into the first overtime period, it looked like Ryan Lomberg had won the game for the Panthers. He fired the puck past a sprawled Frederik Andersen, and Florida began to celebrate, but the elation didn’t last for long.
The officials went to the monitor and determined that Panthers forward Colin White had interfered with Andersen on the play. The goal came off the board, and the two teams resumed play.
If the officials knew what was in store for the rest of the night, they may have looked the other way when White made contact with Andersen.
For the next 79:47, the Panthers and Hurricanes remained locked at 2-2 in what would become an historic game. Both teams had their fair share of chances, as you might expect, but the goaltenders and the posts repeatedly kept the action alive.
It wasn’t until the Hurricanes coughed up the puck in their own zone with less than one minute left in the fourth overtime that someone finally found the back of the net. Florida forward Sam Bennett forced a turnover and slid a pass to Matthew Tkachuk, who roofed a shot over the shoulder of Andersen.
Although Andersen lost the game, both goalies should hold their head high while getting an IV. Bobrovsky stopped 63 of 65 shots, and Andersen turned away 57 of the 60 shots that came his way.
The trainers in both locker rooms should be pretty busy between now and Game 2 on Saturday night.
