'Freak Athlete': Montour feeling great after marathon skate in Game 1

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Brandon Montour somehow still had a little left in the tank.

After leading all players with 57:56 of ice time during a 3-2 quadruple overtime win against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final at PNC Arena on Thursday, the Florida Panthers defenseman believes that he probably still had a few shifts left in him.

"Obviously your gear's soaked, but I still had some energy," Montour said.

By the time Matthew Tkachuk beat Frederik Andersen with 12.7 seconds left in the fourth overtime to cap off the the sixth-longest game in NHL history, Montour's monster minutes had set a new single-game franchise record and were the ninth-most in the NHL since 1997-98.

The longer the game went on, the more impressed Paul Maurice became.

"He comes back to the bench, and he's fine," the Panthers head coach said. "There are unique players. Some of them have a fitness level that is just different. … His recovery is incredible."

In addition to Montour, four other players also surpassed the 50-minute mark in Game 1, including defensemen Gustav Forsling (55:41) and Aaron Ekblad (52:10) for the Panthers, and defenseman Brent Burns (54:43) and Jaccob Slavin (51:41) for the Hurricanes.

Going by distance, Montour skated roughly 8.85 miles, per NHL Edge.

"He was flying," Panthers forward Eric Staal said. "Even when he hit the 50-plus minute range, he was still moving up the ice so well. He's in great shape. He takes care of himself. He's one of those freak athletes. Fun to watch. Just a dynamic player. He's hugely important to us."

Oddly enough, this wasn't the longest game Montour has ever played in.

All the way back on March 6, 2015, Montour, then just a freshman in college, manned the blue line for UMass over the course of five overtimes during an eventual 4-3 win over Notre Dame.

As his minutes piled up against the Hurricanes, Montour said he thought back to that game.

"I thought about it, to be honest, a little bit," said Montour, who logged three assists for the Minutemen in that game, which lasted an NCAA record 151 minutes and 42 seconds. "I don't know how much I played. There were five overtimes, and we ended up winning as well."

Looking to snatch another game from the Hurricanes on the road in Game 2 on Saturday, Montour and the rest of the Panthers feel they'll be ready to go again after a good day of recovery on Friday.

"We've experienced so much throughout this season and the playoffs already," said Montour, who notched a career-high 73 points (16 goals, 57 assists) in 2022-23. "Until the game's over, we're pushing. We have four lines, six D, and our goalies are pushing it. We just want to win."