The Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers played the sixth longest game in NHL history on Thursday night, with Matthew Tkachuk mercifully ending the contest on a rocket to the top corner with 12.7 seconds left in the fourth overtime period.

The game lasted over five hours, beginning just past 8 p.m. ET on Thursday and ending just before 2 a.m. ET on Friday, an elapsed game time of 139 minutes and 47 seconds.

Regardless of how the game was won, all that matters for both teams is that the Cats are up 1-0 on the Canes in the 2023 Eastern Conference Final, with a chance to take a commanding 2-0 lead at PNC Arena in Raleigh on Saturday night.

But in typical social media fashion, the unorthodox finish led to some hilarious reactions from across NHL Twitter:

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Both teams will now be in full recovery mode, and they begin to prepare for Game 2 after playing a full two games worth of hockey on Thursday night.

“You’ve got to tip your cap to both teams how they played…Fourth overtime, guys are diving, blocking shots, diving to get pucks out,” Tkachuk said afterwards.

“I don’t know how many blocked shots there were on both sides. But both teams are very dialed in and playing smart but hard and very for the team. Both teams are very team first and you can easily tell that.”

It was a game that both teams desperately didn’t want to lose, but it was Conn Smythe favorite Tkachuk who silenced the crowd at PNC home and sent them home devastated after over five hours.

Game 2 between the Panthers and Hurricanes is set for Saturday night in Raleigh, and if you ask both teams, they’ll probably just be hoping that it doesn’t go past regulation.