Dave Hyde: Panthers in Game 7 in Boston, Heat in Game 1 in New York — buckle up for a Sunday like no other

Forget that “Sunday Fun-day” fantasy. This is the real thing, the kind of double-decked drama that puts a pep in your step and pit in your stomach all Sunday.

The Miami Heat play Game 1 in New York at 1 p.m.

The Florida Panthers play Game 7 in Boston at 6:30 p.m.

It’s a sporting alpha and omega for South Florida, the birth of a new playoff series and finish of a dramatic one, the start of anything for the Heat against the once-hated New York Knicks and the end of everything for the Panthers’ series with the mighty Boston Bruins.

If the undermanned Heat just pulled off the greatest upset in NBA playoff history against heavyweight Milwaukee — and they did — the Panthers are one game from doing the same in the NHL. It’s “Miracle on Ice” stuff without the Olympics or the Disney movie.

Think of it: The biggest regular-season point spread in an NHL playoff upset is the 29 points between eighth-seeded Edmonton in beating top seed Detroit in 2006. Boston had 43 more regular-season points than the Panthers. It set an NHL record for regular-season wins and points. The Panthers, just huffed and puffed just to make the playoffs. Same as the Heat did.

Anyone who expected either South Florida team to be here Sunday, raise your hand.

Anyone at all?

You don’t count, Paul Maurice.

“There is belief here; we’re a good team,” the Florida Panthers coach said late Friday night after a wild, 7-5 win in Game 6 in Sunrise.

How wild? Hockey awards three stars after each game, and here were my three for this one: Matthew Tkachuk (again), career minor-leaguer Zac Dalpe and assistant video game coordinator John Congemi.

Let’s introduce them in reverse order like hockey does. After Boston went up 3-2 in the second period, Congemi saw in some back video room that there was a questionable play 19 seconds before the goal. Give that man a raise.

As Boston forward Jake DeBrusk lay on the ice, his gloved finger brushed the puck that was then picked up by a teammate. Congemi identified it as an illegal hand pass, informed Maurice who challenged it and thanks to the letter-of-the-law ruling it was a 2-2 game again.

Next came Dalpe’s heroics. Another, “Who’s he?” Dalpe is 33. He had 16 career NHL goals entering Friday. He was captain of the Panthers’ minor-league affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers this season in a career dotted with teams like the Utica Comets and Iowa Wild.

Dalpe was in the line-up only because regular Ryan Lomberg was hurt. Seven minutes into the third period, with the Panthers trailing 4-3, his career persistence and this game’s fun script intersected in front of the Boston net. He had his first career playoff goal. It was that kind of night. It was 4-4, too.

“That’s just a great story, isn’t it, Zac Dalpe?” Maurice said.

That brought Tkachuk’s latest moment. He wasn’t just the big star of this night. He’s the big star every night for the Panthers. He was tripped to set up a power play in the game’s second minute and assisted on the resulting Brandon Montour goal for a 1-0 lead.

Tkachuk then scored to make it 2-1 later in the first period. But it was his second goal of the night and fifth of this series that again brought the Panthers back in Game 6. Twenty-seven seconds after Boston took a 5-4 lead with just under 10 minutes left, Tkachuk stuffed the puck past Boston goalie Linus Ullmark and and the Panthers again had life.

After Eetu Luostarinen scored the game-winner and Sam Reinhart added an empty-net goal, an arena that never previously staged a Game 6 in is 25-year existence (to speak of this franchise’s empty history) — had a Game 6 for the ages. The crowd’s celebration said as much.

“I couldn’t really hear what was going on in my head for the past 20 minutes,” said Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov, who scored his first goal of the series Friday. “It was insane. It was awesome to be a part of it.”

Boston was the NHL’s best-third period team this season and Ullmark the league’s top goalie, and the Panthers came back from deficits twice and scored four goals in that third period. Another stat: Boston gave up a third-period lead for just the fifth time in its past 87 games.

This one punched a ticket to Game 7.

“We’ll get to Game 7, and I want to enjoy it,” Maurice said. “I want to enjoy the hell out of it. It’s the most fun you have in the game with the pressure on like that. You’ve got to enjoy it.”

Sounds like Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, doesn’t he?

What a Sunday this will be. What a sports surprise. Separated by six-and-a-half hours and 231 miles, the Heat and Panthers will begin one dramatic series and end another. It was just on Wednesday they won back-to-back overtime games. Now they’re at it again.

Anything can happen. You know that because everything already has in these two teams’ playoff runs.