Fans go wild as Panthers win in historic 4OT
Panthers fans are celebrating after waiting 79 grueling minutes for their team to come out on top over the Hurricanes in the NHL’s sixth-longest game ever.
The Florida Panthers ad Carolina Hurricanes took Game 1 of the NHL Eastern Conference finals to a fourth overtime. 79 minutes long, this was the NHL’s sixth-longest game in league history.
In the end, it was Panthers hero Matthew Tkachuk who scored the winning point to give Florida the 3-2 victory just seconds before the game would have gone into a fifth overtime period.
Overtime goal overturned by goalie interference review
In another crazy moment from the game, Ryan Lomberg scored what looked like the game-winner in the first overtime period. However, the goal was nullified after a goalie interference review determined that Colin White interfered with Hurricane goalie Frederik Andersen’s ability to make the save.
Just moments later, the Panthers had another chance to end the game with a power play, but still didn’t manage a shot on goal! After that, the Hurricanes did the same, missing a power-play opportunity. It went on like this for so long, you’d think the fans would be exhausted. But the back-and-forth intensity and adrenaline was strong in the fans, who are celebrating the Panthers’ seventh road win in the playoffs. They now lead the series 1-0 over the Hurricanes.
Longest game in NHL history
This was the sixth-longest game in NHL history at 79 minutes and 47 seconds to be exact. But what was the longest-ever game in NHL history? Well, that would be when the Detroit Red Wings played the Montreal Maroons in 1936. The game went into six overtimes and ended only after 116 minutes and 30 seconds with the Red Wings winning 1-0.