Matthew Tkachuk scored with 13 seconds left in the fourth overtime as the Panthers defeated the Hurricanes in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Series openers are supposed to set the tone for what should become survival of the fittest as this seven-game war rages on.
But the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes didn't get the memo, as the first game turned into a marathon within itself. Matthew Tkachuk scored with 13 seconds left in the fourth overtime to give the Panthers a 3-2 victory at the Hurricanes in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Thursday night, ending the longest game in the history of both franchises.
It took 139 minutes and 47 seconds of gameplay to find a winner, making it the game's sixth-longest in NHL history. The record belongs to a 1936 game between the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Maroons, where Mud Bruneteau's sixth overtime tally at 116:30 gave Detroit a 1-0 victory.
The contest began at 8:10 p.m. ET and finished at 1:54 a.m. ET, with Stefan Noesen's game-tying goal at 10:09 PM being the last time a puck would find the back of the net for 4 hours and 44 minutes of real-time.
Most importantly, the victory extended the Panthers' streak to five, giving them a 1-0 series lead. The Panthers became the third team in NHL history to win their first five OT games in a postseason, joining the 2003 Anaheim Ducks and 2011 San Jose Sharks.
Florida also extended their road winning streak to seven games, tied second longest in playoff history (with six other teams), only behind the 2012 Los Angeles Kings, who won 10 straight.
The Panthers could've won earlier if Ryan Lomberg's goal in the first overtime wasn't called back due to goaltenders interference. But it was, and the teams played on, practically delivering another game and a period of playoff hockey to the fans.
Hurricanes' power play kept them in it
While the Hurricanes aren't known for their man advantage production, those tallies ultimately kept them in the contest. With 17:44 remaining in the opening frame, Marc Stall was boxed for tripping Martin Necas, putting Carolina on the power play.
That would become a five-on-three 39 seconds later when Noesen screened goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky as a shot from Martin Necas went wide. As Noesen turned his body towards the puck, Aaron Ekblad cross-checked him in the back and into Bobrovsky. The infraction gave the Hurricanes 1:22 on the two-man advantage, and they would capitulate when Sebastian Aho found Seth Jarvis for the icebreaker with 11 seconds remaining in the first period, giving Carolina a 1-0 lead.
Florida coach Paul Maurice was furious about the call and felt he had every reason to cascade the referees following the goal. "That's on you," he shouted towards the men in stripes as he went to the visitor's locker room with his head down, searching for words to tell his team after he felt the Panthers were robbed of a scoreless frame.
The goal set a new playoff career-high for Jarvis, who has nine points in 12 games and added to a career-best at five goals. The 13th overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft has done this after a disappointing regular season where he tallied 39 points in 82 games after posting 40 in 68 the year before.
Carolina's relentless puck pressure eventually cost them as they took two consecutive penalties. But their playoff-best penalty kill held firm. Then, needing a goal in the third period after yielding two in the second, the vaunted man advantage struck again. After Bennett was penalized for boarding Jordan Martinook, Necas fed Jarvis, who sauced the puck to Noesen for a tic-tac-toe game-tying tally.
It would kickstart a stanza dominated by the Hurricanes, as they outshot the Panthers 14-2 but couldn't forge ahead on the scoreboard. They received two more power plays in the overtime sessions, but their luck had run out by then. It proved true when Jarvis was left alone down low towards the end of the first overtime but rang the crossbar. The Panthers aggression paid off, Bobrovsky stood tall, and the game continued.
Anthony Duclair bought time for Matthew Tkachuk
While he did score the quadruple-overtime winner, Florida's primary source of offense, Matthew Tkachuk, was held in check for most of the contest. He only had two shots before his heroics, but he came through when it mattered the most. However, before their savior awoke from his slumber, the Panthers needed someone else to step up, and that was forward Anthony Duclair.
The 27-year-old, in his ninth NHL season, recorded two assists in a span of 2:15 in the second period, giving Florida the lead. The first came courtesy of a stretch pass from Marc Stall, who pounced on a Jesperi Kotkaniemi turnover and found Carter Verhaeghe, who found Duclair with an entering the offensive zone. Duclair passed the puck to an open Aleksander Barkov, who roofed it over Andersen to tie it.
Then, Duclair found Verhaeghe, whose shot from the right circle put Florida in front.
Duclair did everything but score despite registering a game-high eight shots tied with Hurricanes defenseman Brett Burnes in 35:51 of ice time.
The Duclair-Barkov-Verhaeghe line led the Panthers with 30:56 ice time and outshot opponents 37-32. They broke the barrier that is the Hurricanes stifling defense, giving other units confidence they could do the same. But it took time for the comforting feeling to lead to results on the ice, as the Panthers were a step slow in the third period, struggled to finish checks, and turned pucks over, resulting in a slew of Carolina scoring chances. Luckily, they had a Vezina trophy winner between the pipes who kept the ship upright until the rest of its crew returned.
Sergei Bobrovski kept the Panthers alive
The Panthers aren't here if it's not for Sergei Bobrovsky turning back the clock to his Vezina days of 2013 and 2017. While it isn't so long ago, it feels like an eternity to the netminder who, before this postseason, had yet to reach the heights his seven-year $70 million contract he signed with Florida on July 1, 2019, demanded.
The inconsistency reached the point where rookie Alex Lyon was entrusted to start the Panther's playoff opener against the record-setting Boston Bruins over a healthy Bobrovsky. But he hasn't looked back since he regained the starters net with his team trailing 3-1 in that first-round series.
The 35-year-old entered the Eastern Conference final having won seven of eight starts, including backstopping Florida in their series-clinching Game 5 with 50 saves on 52 shots before Nick Cousins's overtime goal eliminated the Toronto Maple Leafs.
As the marathon wore on, players began to show fatigue. The buttoned-down defensive clubs began to concede open ice, thus increasing the number of chances. But by then, shots had less zip, forechecks were softer, and possession time was interchangeable. However, none of it seemed to phase Bobrovsky, who was having a blast.
"At that point, you don't feel much about your body," Bobrovsky told the Athletic. "It's more mental. Your focus is completely on the game. One shot at a time, and you don't think about your body."
Whether he thinks about it or not, all 6-foot-2, 182 pounds were needed to survive the Caniacs' attack. He made 14 saves in the final stanza, none bigger than stopping Necas on a breakaway late in regulation.
That denial alone would've been enough for his effort to be lauded if Ryan Lomberg's goal at 2:35 into the first overtime withstood the review. Instead, the tally was called back for goaltender interference, and play continued.
According to the official ruling from the NHL, "Video review determined Florida's Colin White had a significant presence in the crease and made incidental contact with goaltender Frederik Andersen that impaired his ability to play his position before Ryan Lomberg's goal."
"We've been through a lot of adversity throughout the whole playoff and the season, so we don't care," Panthers defenseman Radko Gudas said, per The Athletic. "We put the working boots back on, just grind them down and just keep going. Maybe Whitey might get a little fine for being in the crease. Maybe we would have ended it a little earlier."
So back in the net went Bobrovsky, who improved as the game progressed. Even more impressive, he was going up against Frederik Andersen, who was putting on a show at the other end, making for an enthralling stalemate into the wee hours of Friday morning.
Bobrovsky stopped Jordan Staal's wraparound chance by using his skate to push the puck against the post. Then in double overtime, there was his poke check on Stefan Noesen before he made two point-blank saves on Aho to keep Florida alive.
The Panthers generated chances of their own, but there was Andersen's glove save on Eric Stall, the goaltender's patience in the third overtime to stop Brandon Montour wide open in the slot, his thwarting of a two-on-one rush, his point-blank stop on Sam Bennet and an incredible paddle save on Verhaeghe in the fourth overtime that had them looking skywards themselves.
When it was over, Andersen finished with 60 saves on 63 shots to a +1.41 Goals Saved Above Expected (GSaX). But Bobrovsky was better, making 62 saves on 65 shots, finishing with a +4.5 GSaX and raising his total in that category to a playoff-leading +13.8, according to Moneypuck.com.
Bobrovsky's 63 saves were the most in Panthers postseason history, surpassing John Vanbiesbrouck's 55-save performance in Game 4 of the 1996 Stanley Cup Final. The performance is tied for the 10th most in a playoff game. The netminder also became the third goaltender since 1955-56 to record 50+ saves in consecutive playoff games. Only Juuse Saros in 2021 and Curtis Joseph in 1993 previously accomplished the feat.
Matthew Tkachuk has a new favorite goal
We looked destined for an eighth period before Tkachuk finally put everyone to bed.
With 13 seconds left, he won a puck battle along the wall, came out to the hash marks, and beat Andersen before skating to the locker room in walk-off fashion.
"Matty T needs to show up," a friend of yours truly said during the fifth-period intermission in response to me changing my overtime prediction from Verhagage to the Panthers superstar.
"The longer this goes on, he's bound to strike," I said. That's what happened.
It was his team-leading 17th playoff point and the 204th goal of his career and, Tkachuk said, "my favorite one so far in my life."
"I hope you and everybody else enjoyed that game," he told the media, per The Athletic. "Because I see two really good teams fighting it out for every inch. And it's little stuff, little battles that maybe people don't realize, but they're very important, and both teams are doing it all game long. They're a great team over there. I'm sure both teams are gassed right now. But we'll use tomorrow to refuel, use the next day to do the same thing, and it's nice that it's an 8 o'clock start. We'll get an extra hour of sleep."
Marathon minutes have both teams thinking recovery
Aside from the goaltenders who played the game in its entirety, there were impressive ice times from the other players. This game lasted so long that even Hurricanes public address announcer Wade Minter had enough and still worked two more periods after apologizing to the crowd. Wayne Gretzky also shared his impatience from TNT studios.
Brandon Montour was one of three Panthers blue-liners to log over 50 minutes, leading all players with 57:27 of ice time on a whopping 65 shifts (averaging 53 seconds). The time on ice was the 10th-most by a player in NHL history, according to the Athletic. Seth Jones holds the record with 65:06 played for Columbus in a Game 1 of the 2020 first round that lasted five overtimes.
Montour's defensive partner Gustav Forsling, logged 56:10, while Aaron Ekblad skated for 52:10.
Florida had six players with over 40 minutes of ice time, including captain Aleksander Barkov, who played 43:51 and won 55 percent of his 55 draws. Panthers winger Carter Verhaeghe recorded six shots on goal and led the team with 17 shot attempts in 44:59 of ice time. On the physical side, the Cats delivered 46 hits, with Radko Gudas being credited with a game-high of 12.
Captain Jordan Staal won 55 percent of his 51 draws in 35:33 ice time for the Hurricanes. Sebastian Aho had six shots and 18 shot attempts during his 45:56 ice time, leading all forwards. Carolina had two D-men over 50 minutes, their top pair in Brent Burns (54:43) and Jaccob Slavin (51:41).
The game began as a race to the start, evolved into a race to the finish, and now is a race to recover, with Game 2 of this best-of-seven series lurking on Saturday.
"Both teams spent what they had," Panthers coach Paul Maurice said, per NHL.com. "That's a huge cost for both teams, and then it's a race to recover."
Yes, as Carolina coach Road Brind'Amour said, the Game 1 loss is, "The worst way to lose."
But he is also correct in stating, "It's just one game."
"We're ready to rehydrate, get to bed, and do it again," Lomberg said, per Panthers digital content manager Jameson Olive.
