RALEIGH, N.C. -- I posed a simple question in the article previewing this series.
What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?
Well, we now know what happens: four overtimes.
Putting a finish to the 6th longest game in Stanley Cup End of the season games history, Matthew Tkachuk scored at 19:47 of the fourth installment of extra time to lift the Florida Panthers to a 3-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 1 of the Eastern Meeting Final at PNC Field.
The puck dropped on Thursday, however the game finished not long before 2 a.m. ET on Friday.
"Presumably my most loved [goal] I've scored in my life," said Tkachuk, who drives the Panthers with 17 points (six objectives, 11 aids) the end of the season games. "It was enormous to not allow it to go to five extra amounts of time there."
In any case, how can somebody's body feel in the wake of enduring a game like that?
"Definitely drained," grinned Tkachuk. "However, I think you're less worn out when you win."
In the wake of coming up void on a 5-on-3 strategic maneuver late in the main period, the Hurricanes changed over on their ensuing 5-on-4 benefit when Seth Jarvis pounded home a one-clock from the space past Sergei Bobrovsky to open up the scoring and make it 1-0 at 19:48.
With shots rare in the second time span for the two groups, the Panthers finally got through when Aleksander Barkov gathered a sweet centering feed from Anthony Duclair and tore a laser past Frederik Andersen from the passed on circle to even things up at 1-1 at 15:28.
Taking that freshly discovered energy - - and with the top line totally cooking - - the Panthers snatched the lead not long after while scoring machine Carter Verhaeghe twisted into the focal point of the right circle and snapped a shot into the rear of the twine to make it 2-1 at 17:43.
Solid on safeguard as well as offense, Florida gave up only five shots on objective in the period.
Getting one more strategic maneuver in the third period, the Hurricanes pulled in any event, when Stefan Noesen finished off a beautiful spasm tac-toe passing grouping by taking a speedy dish from Jarvis and beating Bobrovsky from the right half of the net to get the game to 2-2 at 3:47.
"That is an incredible group around there," Tkachuk said of the Hurricanes, who entered the matchup with a 5-1 record at home during the postseason. "I want to believe that you folks and every other person partook in that game in light of the fact that, based on how the situation is playing out, it's two great groups fighting it out for each inch."
Simply beyond the halfway point of the period, Bobrovsky spread out to stone Martin Necas on a breakaway with a grasp left-cushion save. Not done there, the star goaltender then, at that point, loosened up his glove while down on his midsection to bat away a passing endeavor and discredit a subsequent open door.
With the activity at last getting to extra time, the Panthers seemed to win the game - - and celebrated like they had - - when Ryan Lomberg beat Andersen with a shot from the space. Yet, after a survey, the objective was toppled when authorities considered that there was goaltender interference on the play.
Per the NHL's true clarification, "Florida's Colin White had a huge presence in the wrinkle and connected with goaltender Frederik Andersen that weakened his capacity to play."
In the end, that choice wound up delaying a similar outcome.
Like, extremely delaying it.
In the subsequent additional time, each group shot 10 shots on objective without much of any result. Jordan Staal had seemingly the best look of the period, however was denied on a fold over endeavor when Bobrovsky made all the difference for the Panthers by sliding on his left side with perfect timing to pin the puck to the post.
With mental stability starting to slip for any among us in the press box, the Panthers conveyed the vast majority of the play all through the third extra time and driven 11-8 in shots on objective. Yet, Andersen actually wouldn't move, including making a game-saving stop on Montour to keep the Hurricanes in the battle.
Facing an extreme errand in the fourth extra time, the Panthers effectively killed off a strategic maneuver for the Hurricanes before by and by going into all out attack mode. Finally compensated, Tkachuk took a pass from Sam Bennett and beat Andersen from the right circle for the 3-2 win at 19:47.
The backbone for the Panthers throughout the marathon, Bobrovsky finished with 63 saves -- including stopping all 34 shots he faced in overtime -- to set a new franchise playoff record.
With every single player chipping in to get the crucial series-opening win, Tkachuk began his post-game media availability by first looking down at the scoresheet in front of him and taking full stock.
"So many great contributions from everybody," Tkachuk said as he stared at the lofty numbers. "Just looking at this sheet quickly, Monty played almost 60 minutes. Barky took, like, 1,000 draws. We're not even in overtime if Bob doesn't make that save on the breakaway in the third. Bob played great and everybody followed. It was a full team effort for two games basically."
CATS QUOTES
"It kind of becomes the game of attrition. You're just trying to be patient and wait for the moment and for the shot. Just one shot at a time. You don't think too much ahead. You stay with the moment and try to do the best to keep the puck out of the net." - Sergei Bobrovsky on navigating a four-overtime game as a goaltender
"It's very cool, and very cool to be on the winning side of that. You've got to tip your cap to how both teams played. Fourth overtime and guys are blocking shots and diving to get pucks out. I don't even know how many blocked shots there were on both sides." - Matthew Tkachuk on what it felt like to win one of the longest playoff games in NHL history
"We have a team performance group. We have a team that's in the weight room that trains hard and practices hard. The confidence even coming into the game, everybody understand that at Hour 2 nobody feels good. But the group has confidence in their ability to push." - Paul Maurice on the conditioning of the his players
"You don't just let it go. You grind all the way until the end. We had a lot of good chances in overtime, and Chucky had an unreal shot." - Aleksander Barkov on the team's mentality as the overtimes piled up
"We're ready to rehydrate, get to bed and do it again." - Ryan Lomberg on getting ready for Game 2
CATS NOTES
The Panthers recorded their fifth rebound win of the end of the season games.
- The Panthers are the third group in NHL history to win every one of their initial five games that necessary extra time in a single postseason.
- The Panthers are only the eighth group in Stanley Cup End of the season games history to win seven straight games out and about.
- Matthew Tkachuk scored his second extra time objective in the end of the season games.
- Brandon Montour drove the Panthers with a staggering 57:27 of ice time.
- Aleksander Barkov dominated a match high 30 faceoffs.
- Radko Gudas obstructed six shots and doled out a group leading 12 hits.
- Anthony Duclair counted two helps.
- Ever player on the Panthers recorded no less than a single shot on objective.
WHAT'S NEXT?
The Panthers and Hurricanes will get all the rest they can before meeting up again for a hopefully much shorter Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.
But if four overtimes is what it takes to win every game, we'll take it.