RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes each deserved to take a bow, but they probably didn't have the energy.
Still, after the Panthers' thrilling 3-2 quadruple overtime win in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final at PNC Arena on Thursday, it's going to be difficult to wait for the next one. When Matthew Tkachuk ended the exhausting marathon by scoring with 12.7 seconds remaining in fourth overtime, all you could think was more of the same, please.
But, of course, get some rest before Game 2 of the best-of-7 series is played here Saturday (8 p.m. ET; TNT, CBC, SN, TVAS).
"I hope you guys and everybody else enjoyed that game because what I'm seeing is two really good teams fighting it out for every inch," Tkachuk said. "It's little stuff like little battles that maybe people don't realize, but they're very important and both teams are doing it all night long. So they're a great team over there. I'm sure both teams are gassed right now."
That's understandable. It was the sixth-longest game in NHL history and the longest for each franchise. The game started at 8:10 p.m. ET on Thursday and ended at 1:54 a.m. ET on Friday.
Total elapsed game time was 139 minutes and 47 seconds.
"I thought it was a [heck] of a battle," Hurricanes center Jordan Staal said. "It's going to be like that every game against that team. That's playoff hockey. I'm not surprised that's the way it looked out there. We'll have to regroup and take it to the next game."
Five skaters played more than 50 minutes, led by defenseman Brandon Montour at 57:56 for Florida and defenseman Brent Burns at 54:33 for Carolina. And each goalie went the distance.
Florida's Sergei Bobrovsky was superb again, setting a Panthers record with 63 saves, including 34 in overtime, for his second game in a row with at least 50 saves (50 in a series-clinching Game 5 against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday). Frederik Andersen more than held his own at the other end for the Hurricanes with 57 saves, a Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers record, including 39 in overtime.
"Both teams spent what they had," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. "That's a huge cost for both teams, and then it's a race to recover."
By the time Tkachuk's shot from the right circle went in over Andersen's glove for the winning goal, you might have forgotten that Florida led 2-1 heading into the third period after Aleksander Barkov (15:28) and Carter Verhaeghe (17:43) scored 2:15 apart late in the second. Carolina tied it on Stefan Noesen's power-play goal 3:47 into the third period and couldn't add another goal in regulation despite outshooting Florida 14-2 in the third.
That included Bobrovsky's left pad save on Martin Necas on a breakaway at 12:33 and his follow-up shot two seconds later.
"[Bobrovsky] was good, but so was Freddie," Necas said. "Both goalies played great. We've got to get a little more in, shoot a little bit more with traffic, get the pucks through. Both goalies played great. They got a nice goal at the end there."
Ryan Lomberg appeared to score the winning goal for Florida 2:34 into the first overtime before it was disallowed after a video review determined Colin White interfered with Andersen. So the teams played on.
The Panthers couldn't convert on a power play resulting from Burns' holding penalty at 3:11 of overtime and Seth Jarvis nearly won it on a Hurricanes power play resulting from Anthony Duclair's high-sticking minor at 11:51 but hit the underside of the crossbar on his rebound chance in front at 12:31.
In the second overtime, Bobrovsky made back-to-back sterling saves on Jack Drury and Sebastian Aho at 11:03 and 11:07, respectively. Andersen fought through traffic to make a glove save on Josh Mahura's shot from the high slot at 11:50.
Andersen did his best work in the third overtime, with 11 saves, including one with the shaft of his stick at 5:35 on Montour, who was alone in front with the puck following a Hurricanes turnover. Andersen also made a dazzling glove save on Eric Staal with 47 seconds remaining to push the game to a fourth extra period.
"Listen, it's the worst way to lose," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "There's no way around it. ... But we'll regroup and come back at it the next one. It's just one game."
Something had to give. The Hurricanes were 5-1 at home in the Stanley Cup Playoffs entering Game 1. The Panthers were 6-1 on the road this postseason, including six straight wins.
Florida was 4-0 in overtime in this postseason and had won seven straight playoff overtime games dating to 2021. Carolina was 3-0 in overtime this postseason and also had won seven straight playoff overtime games dating to 2021.
Carolina had 145 shot attempts and blocked 39 shots. Florida had 125 shot attempts and blocked 38 shots.
"You've got to tip your cap to both teams how they played," Tkachuk said. "Fourth overtime, guys are diving, blocking shots, diving to get pucks out. I don't know how many blocked shots there were on both sides. But both teams are very dialed in and playing smart but hard and very for the team. Both teams are very team first and you can easily tell that.
"We knew they were going to be tight, low-scoring games against these guys and that's something that we're confident and comfortable in, and it should be good the rest of the series."
