George Richards, FHN Publisher
The Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning have been competing against each other every year since the Panthers came into the NHL in 1993.
The two cross-state rivals have shared not only the same state, but same division for the past 28 years.
Saturday night, the two officially joined forces on the ice for the first time as the AHL team they are temporarily sharing kicked off the 2021 season.
It was a victorious start to an odd partnership.
The Syracuse Crunch, made up of prospects from both the Panthers and Lightning, opened up with a 6-1 victory over the Utica Comets at Upstate Medical University Arena in Syracuse.
Florida goalie Sam Montembeault made 32 saves in the win.
The sharing agreement came about when Florida’s new team — they signed on with the Charlotte Checkers over the summer — decided to opt out of a truncated 2021 season.
Florida GM Bill Zito and Tampa Bay’s Julien BriseBois are friends and quickly came up with an agreement in which the Panthers would help Syracuse fill its roster while having a place for their prospects to play.
The team belongs to the Lightning and is coached by Tampa Bay employees although Geordie Kinnear, Florida’s AHL coach, is on site and helping out.
Syracuse not only uses Tampa Bay’s blue-and-white color scheme, but has the Lightning logo on the shoulder of the jerseys and the familiar lightning bolt on the side of their uniform pants.
Montembeault’s red Florida-themed mask and pads definitely clash with the Lightning colors.
“All the guys are great,” Florida/Syracuse defenseman Chase Priskie said last week of the strange optics of an affiliation between the two teams.
“Once you get to playing hockey and being around the locker room, things are a little more natural. There was a little more normalcy … it’s great to be around them.
“As for the Tampa Bay colors, as a freshman (at Quinnipiac) we played at Amalie Arena in the Frozen Four, I played for the Tampa Bay Jr. Lightning when I was younger. So, I have worn the colors before, just not at the pro level.”
This year, the AHL teams which are playing are limiting their travel and only playing a handful of teams.
Syracuse, for instance, is going to play its entire 32-game slate against just three opponents: Utica, Rochester and Wilkes-Barre.
Whether the league has a postseason or not has not been determined.
Even if the league does have some sort of playoffs, it is not known whether all teams would want to participate.
Brady Keeper was one of the Florida prospects who didn’t play; other healthy scratches included Serron Noel, Cole Schwindt and Max Gildon.
Aleksi Heponiemi also did not play after surprisingly being sent to Syracuse on Friday.
Even if Heponiemi made it to central New York in time for the game, it is believed he would have to quarantine for a time after traveling from South Florida.
“We’re just taking it day-by-day,” Priskie said. “I am very blessed to be here. The operation here is so smooth and has been since Day 1. Kudos to whomever runs the logistics to this. Hopefully we can keep going without any interruptions.”
Gabriel Fortier, a second-round pick by the Lightning in 2018, opened things up with a shorthanded goal a minute into the game.
Midway through the first, Florida defenseman Riley Stillman threw a shot through traffic that Otto Somppi deflected to make it 2-0.
Up 3-0 in the second after Alex Barre-Boulet scored with Grigori Denisenko getting his first AHL point, Florida’s Henry Bowlby scored to make it 4-0.
Midway through the third, Fortier got his second of the night to give Syracuse a 5-1 lead.