Long NHL playoff games can lead to scrambling behind scenes in OT

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Eric Staal needed apples and oranges. He passed on the tried-and-true idea of bananas.

"I burp those up," the Florida Panthers center said.

His teammate, defenseman Brandon Montour, wanted salt and caffeine -- and maybe some dry equipment.

Forward Stefan Noesen of the Carolina Hurricanes chowed on some chicken and rice, washing it down with a lot of water. Carolina defenseman Brady Skjei couldn't get enough bananas, eating four on the night, clearly not having the same digestive reaction as Staal.

The needs of the players were all over the map as Thursday night stretched into Friday morning and the Panthers and Hurricanes played the sixth-longest game in the history of the Stanley Cup Playoffs (79:47 of overtime).

Forward Matthew Tkachuk scored at 19:47 of the fourth overtime to give the Panthers a 3-2 victory in Game 1 of the best-of-7 Eastern Conference Final at PNC Arena.

Throughout the nearly six-hour game, it was controlled mayhem in and around the dressing rooms, a scene that is familiar to Florida coach Paul Maurice.

Game 1 was the 105th NHL playoff game he has coached. He never tires of the drama of overtime.

"I mean, you walk in and your whole team's naked because they're taking off their underwear and putting dry underwear on. That's kind of strange," Maurice said. "But overtime is the best expression of our game, right? The most pressure. Like the energy that you get off that is just pure."

RELATED: [Complete Hurricanes vs. Panthers series coverage | NHL's longest playoff games]

While fans feed off the energy of what plays out before them on the ice, the machinations behind closed doors largely remain a mystery. The exhausted players being tended to by a support staff at its breaking point go unnoticed by all but those privileged to share the experience.

On this night, a small army of support staff for each team used the 15-minute intermissions in overtime to get the players into the best possible shape -- mentally and physically -- to continue what was proving to be what Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky called a war of attrition.

"The training staffs, I am sure for both teams, did a phenomenal job of doing everything they can, running in every direction to get you whatever you can," said Staal, who played 24:04. "It is just about recharging, regrouping and being excited for another period."

By all accounts, nobody asked for mustard packets among the litany of requests. Yes, mustard packets are one of the odd overtime hacks for some players, a way to quickly get salt into one's body to retain water and prevent cramping.

Members of the Winnipeg Jets swear by them, ripping the packets open and sucking the contents out of them. Their dressing-room floor was littered with empty packets during a double-overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 3 of the Western Conference First Round on April 22.

"There was probably 10 different trainers grabbing 15 different things for guys," said defenseman Neal Pionk, who played 41:08, the most among skaters, in the 5-4 loss. "Almost all of us needed a little something extra. They were making all sorts of shakes, grabbing mustard packets, all sorts of stuff. It was great."

How does the mustard taste after a long period of hockey?

"I needed a [bratwurst]," Pionk said. "The straight mustard isn't that good."

Other players crave pickle juice, the salty brine a perfect antidote for cramping.

Sometimes the middleman gets skipped.

"Some guys honestly, literally, just have a packet of salt and just cram it down their mouth and it is disgusting, but it does go a long way and does prevent cramps and fatigue," said Montour, who led all skaters with 57:56 of ice time in Game 1. "I have seen every which way but just kind of stay away from those things. I just do it through a powered drink. It is kind of funky, but you have to do what you have to do."

To say necessity is the mother of invention as overtimes drag on in the NHL postseason is spot on. It's also accurate to say that the training and support staffs get more and more equipped to deal with the demands of professional athletes pushing their well-honed bodies to the point of no return, if not past it.

The longest game in playoff history was March 24, 1936, when the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Montreal Maroons 1-0 in the sixth overtime (116:30) in Game 1 of the NHL Semifinals. During intermissions of that game, players were sipping tea and coffee laced with brandy, then lying on benches to improve circulation, according to reports at the time.

The approach has changed radically since that historic overtime. It's had to do so to meet the demands of athletes who play the game in a way that the pioneers of the sport couldn't imagine, putting stress on their bodies that is unfathomable to anyone other than an elite athlete.

"The first thing I said after the game was I can't believe the minutes that I was looking at, and, you know, the effort that these guys put forth," said Bill Burniston, the Hurricanes head strength and conditioning coach. "I mean, these guys were amazing human beings. I don't want to say they are machines, but they're pretty close, you know.

"They're dialed in, and it was pretty impressive to watch the effort."

For the overtimes of Game 1, the Hurricanes had Burniston, their nutritionist and their chef leading the charge during intermissions, helped by an array of support staff in what Burniston called an all-hands-on-deck situation. They all did whatever possible to give their players the edge that might have made the difference.

It is much simpler for the players, who don't always care about nutritional science.

"Just try to eat something and drink a lot," New York Rangers forward Kaapo Kakko said Friday. He and the Rangers lost 4-3 to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the third overtime in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round on May 3, 2022. "That's the only thing you need to do. It doesn't matter what they bring to the locker room. Pizza. Soda. Coke. Try to eat something."

Marty Turco knows the overtime drill well. The former NHL goalie played in three of the League's 10 longest games, all with the Dallas Stars: a 4-3 five-overtime loss to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals on April 24, 2003 (80:48 of overtime; fifth); a 5-4 four-overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks in Game 1 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals on April 11, 2007 (78:06; eighth); and a 2-1 four-overtime win against the San Jose Sharks in Game 6 of the West semifinals on May 4, 2008 (69:03; 10th).

"[In] all three I took a big, huge gauge needle that went in like a garden hose," Turco said last week. "Our trainer or somebody was squeezing the saline into us and to me. I think one time I took two bags.

"From what I remember, I wasn't seeing 20 shots in the overtime periods, but you're still there too. So, I felt I like I could go all night. When you get to that point, you don't have to think about focusing. That next goal could end your night, the series and [there's] nothing more you want to do than to stop it. So, the focus is easy.

"It's just about keeping the cramps away and knowing that you're physical training and mental training was at a point where you're ready for this moment."

Keith Jones was a forward for the Philadelphia Flyers when they defeated the Penguins 2-1 in the fifth overtime of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals on May 4, 2000. It's the third-longest game (92:01 of overtime).

The Flyers and Penguins were looking for anything they could to stay hydrated and fed. So, apparently, were the fans at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh.

"Some guys were having IVs to replace fluids," Jones, an NHL TV analyst for Turner Sports who was named Flyers president of hockey operations May 11, said last month. "Others like myself were eating anything they could find, including pizza. We eventually ran out of food items because the entire arena in Pittsburgh ran out of food items. The fans were not being well served by that time, either. I think they may have been served, but they weren't getting food, that's for sure.

"Everybody was just doing whatever they could, whether it was during the time you're on the ice, the time you're on the bench, the time between periods, to make sure they were ready for the next shift, for the next period and that their teammates were also in the right mind frame to try to battle through the type of adversity that we all dream of."

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In the most recent five-overtime game, the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round on Aug. 11, 2020. It's the fourth-longest game (90:27 of overtime).

That game came with the caveat of being played in the bubble at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Players were under strict health protocols and quarantined from the public.

Blue Jackets head athletic trainer Mike Vogt said his staff was prepared.

"We did not know how long we were going to be gone for," he said last month. "If we ran the gauntlet, it was like 70-something days. We knew we could always ship more stuff if needed but we tried to bring everything we had at home into the bubble.

"They had a setup where it was like an open storage area, where each team had a piece of that where we could stack everything up. We tried to have everything organized so we could get to things quickly. As the game goes on, you're running guys to go get more stuff, so to speak, to make sure you have what you need for the game. I can't remember having any situation where we're like, 'Oh man, wish we had that or this.' It was more trying to keep it organized and knowing where everything was, if not at your grasp."

During that game, Vogt and his staff were passing out various chewables that had the necessary sugars, as well as water and electrolyte and energy drinks.

"The concern I guess is you have to be careful with their bellies," he said. "You don't want to get them too full, stomachs upset.

"So, they're getting salts, but you have to be careful because those can be stomach upsetting. Balance there, listen to the athlete there, take it case by case. They're walking the room, handing out whatever the players need. We're in the training room doing hands-on stuff. Passing out cold towels, things like that."

After a long playoff game, there's usually a quick turnaround -- as was the case for the Panthers and Hurricanes, who played Game 2 of the best-of-7 series on Saturday, also won by the Panthers 2-1 in a much shorter overtime (1:51). There wasn't any practice time prior to the game with the teams resting, recovering and getting ready as fast as possible for the puck drop.

"Sometimes it's going for a walk," former NHL forward Andrew Shaw said in a recent interview. "You want to keep the body moving. Fluids, electrolytes, some salts -- it's just a lot of good, quality food to help get your body prepared."

Shaw was part of two triple-overtime games with the Chicago Blackhawks: a 3-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks in Game 2 of the Western Conference Final on May 19, 2015, the 19th-longest game (56:12 of overtime); and a 4-3 win against the Boston Bruins in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on June 12, 2013 (52:08; 27th).

"And then it's the rest, getting a good night's sleep, maybe relaxing a little bit away from the rink to detox yourself from a stressful day before," Shaw said. "That helped me a little bit. You'd sleep in a little more than usual, get more rest, most likely go to bed early the night before the next game, but we'd still have meetings, things to go over from the previous game. You still have to be mentally in check. That's where the rest helps you."

NHL.com staff writer Amalie Benjamin and independent correspondent Aaron Vickers contributed to this report