Florida Panthers Beat Washington in the Longest Shootout in NHL History

Chris Joseph December 17, 2014 8:00AM

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The Florida Panthers made history Tuesday night when they played in an unprecedented 20 round shootout against the Washington Capitals. It was the longest shootout in NHL history, blowing out the previous record of 15.

The final score was 2-1, but it took nearly twenty minutes of edge-of-your-seat-slap-a-random-stranger-with-a-sock-full-of-pennies amazeballs hockey.

Neither team would relent, going 5-5 on 19 shots each with some remarkable shots and saves in between before Robert Luongo and Nick Bjugstad wrecked the Caps' dreams of winning the shootout and gave the Cats a spectacular victory on their own home ice.

Among the multitude of amazing moments throughout the shootout was Jussi Jokinen sprinting towards the Caps goal and knocking in a one-handed goal as he flipped over:

The shootout was so long, both the Panthers and Caps were forced to have players take a shot twice. Yet they were, battling it out with neither team giving an edge.

At just over seventeen minutes, Luongo was able to block the Caps' Alex Ovechkin's shot attempt, leaving Bjugstad to try and be the hero and seal the victory:

Afterwards, Panthers fans marched out of the BB&T Center as jubilant as if they had just won the Stanley Cup:

History was made tonight. #FlaPanthers https://t.co/lcIH2wRVtB
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) December 17, 2014

It was an emotionally uplifting win for a team that's been swallowed up in the shadow of the Miami Heat, Miami Dolphins and even the Miami Marlins.

Plus there are those ugly rumors of the Panthers relocating because of awful attendance numbers.

Still, it was a beauty of a shootout. One for the ages.

You can watch every shot in the video below.

WATCH IT AGAIN--> #FlaPanthers set an @NHL shootout record: http://t.co/krRzzd4mkM
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) December 17, 2014

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