RALEIGH, N.C. — The Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes didn’t leave PNC Arena until close to 3 a.m. on Friday, and finally, after skipping practices later in the day and holding optional morning skates Saturday, they returned to the scene of the sixth longest game in NHL history all of about 40 hours later for the second game of the Eastern Conference finals.
This time, they had a short night: All the Panthers needed was 1:51 of one overtime to for Matthew Tkachuk to beat the Hurricanes, 2-1, and take a commanding 2-0 series lead. They were out of there by midnight.
Florida has now won nine of 10 since dropping three of four to start Round 1 of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, and six of those victories have come in overtime. They’ve now played 10 overtimes in their last 10 games and won every one of those extra-long games. It has them two wins away from reaching the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1996 — only the franchise’s third season of existence — and now the Panthers get to come home to Sunrise for a pair of games next week.
