Raleigh, NC (AP) – The Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers are determined to keep playing. and playing. and playing.
The teams opened their Eastern Conference final playoff series by completing three overtimes with the score tied at 2. This made it the longest game in franchise history for each team, with Game 1 starting five hours after the puck dropped on Friday.
This marked the 15th four-overtime game in NHL history.
Florida's previous record for the longest game was 104:31 in Game 4 of the 1996 Stanley Cup Finals against Colorado. Carolina's previous record was 114:47 for Game 3 of the 2002 Stanley Cup Finals.
This is the longest game of this season.
The only good news for the teams is that they got an extended break before the start of this series. Carolina shut out new Jersey just one week earlier, while Florida eliminated Toronto a day later.
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