Players Working Overtime in First Round of Stanley Cup Playoffs

The GIST: The first round of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs is barely three days old, and yet we’ve already seen about a million hours of hockey, thanks to a few games going the distance. Oh playoff overtime, how we’ve missed you.

Tell me about it: As if to make up for all the hockey we lost during the pandemic, Tuesday’s opening game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Tampa Bay Lightning went on for six hours and 13 minutes, stretching over seven and a half periods. We’re tired just thinking about playing for that long.

• The Lightning’s Brayden Point finally scored the 3–2 game winner with 9:34 left in the fifth OT period to end the fourth-longest game in NHL history. It went on so long (ending at 9:22 p.m.) that the Boston Bruins and Carolina Hurricanes had to push their 8 p.m. ET matchup to 11 a.m. ET Wednesday morning.

And then...more overtime?: You guessed it. The Bruins won that game 4–3 in double OT, and while the game was the most exciting thing you’ll probably see on a Wednesday afternoon, it was the post-game comments that caused a real stir.

• Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour was fined $25,000 for basically calling the officiating garbage, arguing that the Bruins’ second goal shouldn’t have been allowed because they made an illegal hand pass before scoring.

• Brind’Amour said, “This is why the league’s a joke, in my opinion, on these things,” and referred to the play as a “crime scene.” Turns out, you can’t say that in hockey.

How are the Canadian teams doing?: The Vancouver Canucks started their battle against the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the St. Louis Blues, in last night’s late game. The underdog Montreal Canadiens lost 2–1 to the No. 1 Philadelphia Flyers, and the Calgary Flames lead the series 1-0 against the Dallas Stars. Let’s do that hockey