Penguins defeat Capitals in marathon hockey game
On this day in 1996 the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Washington Capitals 3-2 in 139 minutes and 15 seconds of total game play making it the fifth-longest match in the history of the National Hockey League.A regulation hockey game lasts 60 minutes.According to NHL rules playoff matches arent allowed to end in a tie so teams must keep goingin sudden death 20-minute periodsuntil someone wins.In theory an NHL game could go on forever with no one winning although this has never happened.
On April 24 during Game 4 of the conference quarterfinals match up between the Penguins and Capitals the game went into a fourth overtime before Pittsburghs Petr Nedved scored the winning goal with less than a minute left in the OT period.The Penguins ultimately won the series in six games and advanced to the next round where they defeated the New York Rangers in five games.However Pittsburgh ultimately lost the Eastern Conference Finals that year to the Florida Panthers in seven games.The longest-ever NHL game took place on March 24 1936 when the Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Maroons 1-0 in six overtimes for a total of 176 minutes and 30 seconds.
Mud Bruneteau scored the winning goal.Hockeys second-longest game involved six overtimes between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins on April 3 1933.Toronto won the game 1-0 in 164 minutes 46 seconds.
On May 4 2000 the third-lengthiest match between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins ended after 152 minutes and 1 second with the victory going to Philadelphia 2-1.Dallas Texas was the site of hockeys fourth-longest game when the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim defeated the Dallas Stars 4-3 in 140 minutes and 48 seconds.
