April 24, 1996: Pittsburgh Penguins winger Petr Nedved scored with 45 seconds remaining in quadruple overtime to win game 4 of the 1996 Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals.

Drafted 2nd overall in the 1990 NHL entry draft (one pick behind Owen Nolan, three picks before Jaromir Jagr), Petr Nedved scored a career-high 45 goals in the 1995-96 regular season, priming him for the 1996 NHL playoffs.

Heading into game 4 at the US Airways Arena, the Pittsburgh Penguins were eager to take a 3-1 series lead over their conference-rivals, the Washington Capitals.

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But the Pens found themselves down 2-0 just 7:36 into the second period thanks to a goal from Peter Bondra.

And just a little over 10 minutes later, Mario Lemieux was ejected from the game for jumping Capitals winger Todd Krygier. Yes, you read that correctly.

But it only took Nedved 8 minutes into the third period to tie the score at 2-2, setting the stage for the 5th longest game in NHL history.

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Adding to the craziness of the game, in the second overtime, Joe Juneau was awarded the first-ever penalty shot in overtime of an NHL playoff game.

Ken Wregget shut the door on Juneau and the rest of the Caps through almost 4 complete overtimes, giving Nedved and company a chance to be heroic.

With 4 seconds left on a Pens powerplay, Sergei Zubov moved the puck to Nedved who pump-faked the Capitals defender before putting the puck through a maze of traffic and over Olaf Kolzig’s shoulder for the game-winner!

What a legendary game and snipe!

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