Inside the Lightning locker room during the Game 1 5OT classic

As the Tampa Bay Lightning coaching staff walked from the bench to their room inside Toronto's Scotiabank Arena during the Bolts' epic quintuple overtime victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets in Game 1, they passed each time by the coaches room for the Boston Bruins, who were scheduled to start their series with the Carolina Hurricanes later that evening.

At the end of regulation, the Bruins' door ajar, Jon Cooper poked his head in.

"Well, it's either going to end early or they go long," Cooper remarked to his counterparts from the Bolts' Atlantic Division rival.

By the time Cooper walked by the Bruins' room for a fifth time, between overtimes four and five, the Bruins coaches were packing up. The Tampa Bay-Columbus game had lasted so long - nearly eight periods and 150:27 of time on ice, or six hours, 13 minutes in real time once it finally wrapped up - Boston's opening game against Carolina had been postponed to the following day at 11 a.m.

"You're right, Coop. It's going long," the Bruins staff joked.

Tampa Bay-Columbus Game 1 will go down as the fourth-longest playoff game contested in NHL history.

The level of stamina needed to compete in a contest that lasted over two-and-a-half regulation games is unfathomable. The mental acumen it took to still make sound decisions after 150 minutes is remarkable. Victor Hedman was questionable to play in Game 1 after getting his feet tangled underneath him in the round robin finale against Philadelphia and limped to the locker room having skated just 2:28 in the contest.

He played Game 1 alright, to the tune of 57:38, the highest time on ice for any Lightning player in history. And yet, his time on ice was only the third highest from Game 1, Seth Jones setting a NHL record for TOI (65:06) since the record started being kept in 1998-99 and defenseman partner Zach Werenski right behind him at 61:14.

So how did the Lightning manage to keep their energy up to see the game through to a victory, when Brayden Point wired a wrist shot from the top of the left circle past Columbus goalie Joonas Korpisalo 10:27 into the fifth overtime to set off a raucous on-ice celebration for the 3-2 win? And what was it like inside the locker room as the first overtime intermission turned into the second and the third and finally a fourth?

Tampa Bay director of high performance and strength coach Mark Lambert said what he and the Lightning's support staff did during those intermissions wasn't much different from what they would normally do during a game.

The demand, however, was considerably higher.

"The important thing is that the players don't run out of energy, and energy on the ice is produced by carbohydrates and certain proteins," Lambert explained. "If you ate well during the day and every player eats different, but everybody should have enough energy for at least four periods. And throughout these periods, we still give them sports drinks and certain drinks that they have either on the bench or in between periods just to keep those carbohydrates up and those proteins up.

"Now, obviously at some point when you go through eight periods, you're going to run out. So in between those periods, I'm giving them more carbohydrates, more proteins and more electrolytes because the last thing you want is to run out of energy and you don't want them cramping."

Victor Hedman said the early 3 p.m. start time for Game 1 made it difficult to get the right meals in before the start of the game, as meal times have to be adjusted for the early start, and some players' appetites might not be as voluminous as they would at a normal meal time. But once the Lightning and Blue Jackets got to hour five of what would prove to be an over six-hour game, it had been eight, nine hours since they last ate. And after expending so much energy on the ice, some of them were hungry.

Lambert said for every single playoff game, he arranges to have food available in the locker room through the arena's food services in case a situation arises like the one that happened Tuesday. The Lightning had berries, bananas, oatmeal and chicken available in the locker room during intermissions.

It's not a full meal per se but enough easily digestible food they can eat in between periods to give them a boost.

"Do they eat a lot? No, because if you have for example a protein shake, well that protein shake can sit in your stomach for up to 20 minutes," Lambert said. "So it's the quantity that makes it problematic. We have certain options. We have fruits. We have oatmeal because it's soft and it's easier to digest than for example a steak or a potato. Ripe fruit and a little bit of protein drink and there you go."

Lambert said most players ate a little bit after every overtime period and a little more each time as the overtimes continue

"Some guys don't eat at all because they're not hungry or they can't keep it down," he said. "But on the other hand, I saw a guy eat a piece of chicken in between periods, and he was fine with it. Every player's different."

The main thing is to keep the energy up, maintain a good hydration electrolyte balance as much as can be in those circumstances to avoid cramps and make sure hunger is not a big issue.

Kevin Shattenkirk shook his head and laughed as he walked down the bench and turned down the tunnel toward the locker room at the end of overtime No. 4.

"Really just couldn't believe what was going on," he recalled.

Shattenkirk found as the overtimes progressed, coming into the locker room was worse than playing. Sitting down and not being active, the body would seize up a little bit.

That's when it was important to consume as much liquid as possible.

"We were chugging a lot of fluids," Tyler Johnson said. "I think we were trying to get it back there and doing pickle shots, and I hate pickles. We're just trying to do everything we possibly can.

Lambert had different forms of electrolytes for the players too.

"Some guys take gels. Some electrolytes come in pill form. I have powder form, so I make drinks out of them and they drink sporadically," Lambert said. "But there's no way you can completely prevent it because when it gets to be that long, you're bound to cramp."

The start-stop nature of playoff overtimes can be taxing on the players' body also. Before a game, players warm up for an hour or so in and around the locker room. If you follow teams on social media, posts show them kicking a soccer ball, throwing a football, running short bursts, stretching. Then they go out on the ice about 20 minutes for a warmup skate before one final gathering in the locker room and then the game.

That doesn't happen in overtime. It's a 15-minute break and then right back out on the ice to start up again, back into the grind where every moment, every movement can be critical to the team's success.

"It was just sort of a numb feeling through the overtime where you were just going out for your shift, coming back, resting on the bench, going back out," Shattenkirk said.

Then there are the players who don't play in all situations.

Maybe its late in the fourth overtime and they haven't played in four minutes of real time. Then there's a TV timeout. Or a penalty and the power play goes out and they don't play on the power play. They might be on the bench up to 15 minutes. And then when they go out for a regular shift, it's tough for the body to return to playoff speed.

"You're cooling down," Lambert explained. "That's what happens in between periods in long overtimes, you're cooling down, you're seizing up. That's what you want to prevent. Players move around, they walk, they don't sit down necessarily because if they feel themselves cramping, that's when they have to walk around, maybe get a massage, massage their legs, but move around. That's the important part."

The product on the ice didn't suffer as the game progressed. The last shift of overtime was just as intense, played at just as high a level as the first overtime shift.

"I don't think anybody can understand how hard it is on a player to go through that and still, I don't know how it looked on TV, but to be in eight periods of hockey and still be able to make the plays they were making, it was remarkable," Cooper said. "I'm glad we came out on top, but pretty gutty effort by both teams."

Before overtime No. 5, Lambert noticed something he didn't expect.

The locker room was almost, well, cheerful.

"You'd be surprised, there is a lot of talk," he said. "Well, obviously, some guys talk, some guys don't. But even in the later stages, some guys were laughing and saying, 'this is unique,' embracing the situation. They are exhausted, but they encourage each other. 'We can't lose this. We've got to get through this. We've got to win this.' It was quite the sight. It was very interesting. It was awesome to be a part of it."

There was an all-hands-on-deck mentality amongst the support staff. Whatever was needed, whether filling bottles, making shakes, equipment repairs, somebody was there to make sure it was completed.

"Because obviously we've got 20 guys coming in all at once," Lambert said. "Some guy takes a puck off his ankle or something and needs medical attention, that guy can't help out, but other people who are there are trying to pitch in and do their part help us out. It's a great environment. Great teamwork. It's really good, really fun."

Barclay Goodrow said the 15-minute intermissions felt shorter and shorter as the game went on. By the end, you were in the locker room for a flash before you were right back to skating.

"I'll always remember in the intermissions too, guys laughing and kind of joking around, having fun," Johnson said. "I don't know if that's just because we were so exhausted that was the only thing we could do or what it was. It's a different game. I'm proud to be a part of it, but at the same time I don't know if I ever want to do it again."

The celebration when Point's 88th shot of the game for the Lightning - a NHL record -- found the back of the net made it all worthwhile. Point leapt in the air, pumping his fist. His teammates spilled out on the ice, hugging him up against the wall, jumping in celebratory unison.

Inside the locker room, it was more of the same.

Until it wasn't.

"It's funny because for about five minutes, you jump around and you're very happy, but then the sixth minute you realize, okay this is just one win. We've got three more to go in this series and 15 more to go to win the Cup," Lambert said. "You're full of joy and then a few minutes later it's like, 'Okay, we have a game in 36 hours.' You enjoy it for those few minutes and then you get back to reality. You've got to get your body ready for the next one."

After leaving the arena, the Lightning went back to their team hotel inside the Toronto bubble and had a team meal like they always do after a road game.

This one was just six hours later than scheduled.

"Thankfully, the meat wasn't overcooked," Lambert quipped.