Lehigh Valley tops Charlotte in 5 OTs

CHARLOTTE, NC, May 10, (AP): This one kept going. And going. And going. And going. And going. Straight into the American Hockey League record books.

Alex Krushelnyski scored 6:48 into the fifth overtime period and Alex Lyon made 94 saves to lead the Lehigh Valley Phantoms to a 2-1 win over the Charlotte Checkperiods ers early Thursday morning in the longest game in the AHL’s 82-year history.

The Phantoms, the top affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers, took a 3-1 series lead in the Atlantic Division finals by outlasting the Carolina Hurricanes’ farm team in a game that began shortly after 7 pm EDT Wednesday night and ended at 1:09 am after more than seven and 146 minutes and 48 seconds of play.

The seemingly endless game surpassed the Philadelphia Phantoms’ 3-2 win over the Albany River Rats that took 142:58 to decide in 2008. Lehigh Valley will have plenty of time to celebrate — and sleep. The teams won’t be back on the ice until Saturday night in Charlotte. Lyon posted the second-most saves in league history, stopping the last 79 shots he faced while shutting out Charlotte over the final 119:56.

Danick Martel gave Lehigh Valley a 1-0 lead at the 16:24 mark of the first period. Patrick Brown tied it for Charlotte at 6:52 of the second.

And, then ... lots of zeroes. Until Krushelnyski – son of former NHL All-Star Mike Krushelnyski – finally beat Alex Nedeljkovic, who finished with 51 saves.

Charlotte outshot Lehigh Valley 95-53, including 5429 in the overtime periods.