RALEIGH, N.C. — The Florida Panthers waited 27 years to play in the Eastern Conference finals again, so waiting 60 minutes, plus two full overtime periods and then all but 12.7 seconds of a fourth to finally beat the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 1 was nothing.
It took more than five hours of real time, more than two hours of game time and all the way until the middle of the fourth overtime for the Panthers to finally upset the Hurricanes, 3-2, in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The calendar flipped from Thursday to Friday, the two star goaltenders combined for more than 100 saves and Matthew Tkachuk finally won the game for Florida with 12.7 seconds left in the fourth overtime period.
