History says Hurricanes are in trouble after losing marathon OT game

Matthew Tkachuk's goal at the 19:47 mark of the fourth overtime on Thursday night lifted the Florida Panthers to a massive Game 1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final.

It not only ended what was the sixth-longest game in NHL history, it may have delivered an early blow to the Hurricanes' chances of advancing.

History is not on Carolina's side here.

Teams that lose these marathon playoff games, especially early in a series, do not tend to recover or advance.

Out of the 10 longest playoff games in NHL history prior to Thursday's, only one of those teams went on to win the series. That was the 1943 Detroit Red Wings who were able to overcome a four-overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs and not only win the series but also go on to win the Stanley Cup. 

Other than that? The other nine teams prior to Carolina all lost the series. 

A quick rundown of those games:

• 116:30, six OT – 1936 Montreal Maroons lost to the Detroit Red Wings in Game 1 and lost the series. 
• 104:46, six OT– 1933 Boston Bruins lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs and lost the series.  
• 92:01, five OT – 2000 Pittsburgh Penguins lost to the Philadelphia Flyers and then lost the series.
• 90:27, five OT – 2020 Columbus Blue Jackets lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning and lost the series. 
• 80:48, five OT – 2003 Dallas Stars lost to the Anaheim Ducks and lost the series. 
• 79:15, four OT – 1996 Washington Capitals lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins and lost the series. 
• 78:06, four OT – 2007 Dallas Stars lost to the Vancouver Canucks and lost the series. 
• 70:18, four OT – 1943 Detroit Red Wings lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs but WON the series. This is the lone exception. 
• 69:03, four OT – 2008 Dallas Stars lost to the San Jose Sharks and lost the series. 
• 68:52, four OT – 1930 New York Rangers lost to the Montreal Canadiens and lost the series. 

Carolina's Game 1 loss fits in right between the 2003 Ducks loss and the 1996 Capitals loss. 

There are a couple of things at play here for why these teams struggle so much.

The first is the simple fact you lost a playoff game. That alone puts you at a disadvantage because you can only lose, at most, three games in a series. You have already cut that margin for error down even more by losing a game like that.

But there also has to be some sort of human element or psychological angle to it as well. You put in all of that effort, all of that energy and all of that emotion for a marathon playoff game and then you lose. That has to be deflating mentally, and you know it is deflating physically because those games are not easy to play. If you win, the physical aspect probably gets blocked out to some degree by the mental aspect. 

Losing it? That is tough to come back from. 

Carolina now has quite an uphill battle in this series against a white-hot Panthers team that looks like it has a real chance to win the Stanley Cup. Not only overcoming the early deficit but also overcoming the mental and physical hurdle of losing a game like that.