RALEIGH, N.C. — His Florida Panthers weren't even a half-day faraway from surviving a four-overtime thriller to open the Eastern Conference Final when Paul Maurice wrapped up his information convention with a query.

“OK, everybody, I’ll see you eight hours from now,” the coach stated Friday. “Is that the routine we’re on now?”

It certain feels prefer it after the Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes performed one of many longest video games in NHL postseason historical past, one which left gamers’ legs wobbly and minds weary in a contest that appeared at occasions destined to maintain going.

And going.

And going.

Along the way in which, it was sufficient to have Maurice marvel aloud how lengthy each groups might go with out risking accidents, whereas leaving gamers from each rosters to scarf down snacks or chug fluids in hopes to hanging in there by way of 15-minute intermissions earlier than every OT. Now the Panthers and Hurricanes have a compressed window to relaxation, recharge and - in Carolina’s case, notably - regroup earlier than Game 2 on Saturday evening.

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“It definitely stings,” Carolina defenseman Brady Skjei stated. “Long game, both teams went through it though, so both teams are feeling that today.”

Both groups had been coming off multiday breaks earlier than the sequence, however they burned by way of that stored-up juice in a recreation that stands because the sixth-longest in NHL postseason historical past (139:47), the longest for both franchise and representing greater than two full video games’ value of hockey.

Nearly six hours had handed from Thursday evening’s puck drop when Matthew Tkachuk beat Frederik Andersen with 12.7 seconds left within the fourth OT, bringing a merciful finish to a recreation rising extra ragged because it pushed deeper into early Friday.

The ultimate numbers flirted with the absurd, prompting PNC Arena public-address announcer Wade Minter to greet followers for the intermission after the third OT by saying: “I’m so, so sorry.”

Five defensemen noticed greater than 50 minutes of ice time, led by Florida’s Brandon Montour posting 57:56 of ice time - the ninth-highest playoff whole of all skaters since 1997-98 - together with Gustav Forsling (55:41), and Carolina’s Brent Burns (54:43). Ten different gamers noticed not less than 40 minutes of labor. Nine gamers performed not less than 60 shifts, with Burns (71) main an inventory that included Carolina ahead Teuvo Teravainen (60) in his return from an damage.

And the goaltenders stood out beneath duress, with each Sergei Bobrovsky (63 saves) for the Panthers and Andersen (57) for the Hurricanes making composed stops to maintain extending the sport. As a end result, it took 96 minutes of play following Stefan Noesen’s rating on a tic-tac-toe end for Carolina early within the third for Tkachuk to finish it.

It’s no marvel that Noesen stated he was “out cold pretty quickly” as soon as he bought dwelling, whereas Florida’s Eric Staal stated the bus experience to the crew lodge afterward was “more quiet than normal.”

“Even some of the celebration after we scored, it looked like guys were just ready to get their gear off and recover,” Staal stated.

That sudden-death end amid full 20-minute durations is among the most compelling components of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and represents a far completely different take a look at than groups taking part in a five-minute additional time at 3-on-3 earlier than going to a shootout in regular-season video games. Yet Maurice couldn’t assist however discover the “huge cost” paid by each groups and creating “a race to recover.”

“This is not a critique, it’s a question: At some point you’re wondering how long can these men push this hard for without it becoming dangerous?” Maurice stated in his postgame information convention. “You get locked into this rhythm. At that time they’re like thoroughbreds. But how lengthy a racetrack can we preserve for these guys?

“I wonder if there’s a cutoff that you would need at some (point). This is not a league complaint. They’ve never really got to it. But we’re getting fairly close to that threshold where nothing good happens after that for these men.”

Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour understands it effectively. He performed within the franchise’s earlier record-length recreation, a triple-overtime loss to Detroit in Game 3 of the 2002 Stanley Cup Final when Maurice was in his first stint as Carolina’s coach.

“Overtime is great,” Brind’Amour stated. “Generally it doesn’t go that long. I mean, we’ve only had a handful. Yeah, I don’t think you can start tricking it out. We do in the regular season because you need to. But I think we all agree, the guys that are playing want it to end the right way.”

For the gamers, that meant utilizing each attainable second of the 15-minute intermissions attempting to remain prepared.

Noesen stated he ate rooster and rice together with protein bars and chugged water. Skjei downed 4 bananas. Staal opted for apples and oranges - “I stayed away from the bananas, I tend to burp those up,” he stated - whereas Montour picked by way of a mix of these together with granola bars “just to keep the energy going.”

Neither crew practiced Friday. Understandably, too. After all, they’re technically now set to play on back-to-back days because of all the additional time.

“I still had some energy,” Montour stated. “But at the end of the game, I was just more happy we got the win - and (then) straight to kind of just rest and recovery as much as you can after that.”

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