The date is Oct. 7, 1992.

The Chicago Blackhawks are fresh off a 1992 Stanley Cup Final appearance against one of the league’s best teams and reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

But on this day, the Blackhawks are turning their attention to warm weather and a fresh challenge. The team is visiting Tampa, Florida for the first-ever regular season NHL game in Tampa Bay Lightning History.

And the Lightning are about to make a statement.

Wendell Young is key in the exclamation, making 23 saves in a 7-3 win to become the first goalie to start—and win—an NHL game for the Lightning. It finished as a great and historic night.

“It was a little nervewracking…Chicago had a pretty good team, so I was quite nervous going into the game, our whole team was that way,” Young said of the game at Expo Hall at the Florida State Fairgrounds. “But just the atmosphere in the fairgrounds, the small arena, things couldn’t go better for us or for the fans. It was great just to start the Lightning off on the right foot.”

Fast forward 364 days to Oct. 6, 1993. Tonight it’s Daren Puppa’s turn in the Lightning cage on opening night of the 1993-94 season, a game in which the goalie would turn aside 41 of 43 shots on goal despite a 2-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils.

Puppa ended that season as the first goalie in franchise history to earn a 20-win (22) season. He ranks third in team history for games played (206) and fourth for wins (77) among goalies across seven seasons in Tampa Bay from 1993 to 2000.

“I really enjoyed my time in Tampa,” Puppa said. “When I was playing here, we had a bunch of great guys. We had character. We didn’t maybe have the elite talent—not yet anyway—but I really enjoyed my time playing in Tampa. It was a new start for me.”

A near perfect start for Young and the Bolts

Young was technically the first player in franchise history, as goaltenders were the first selected in the 1992 NHL Expansion Draft. Tampa Bay selected Young with its first selection from the Pittsburgh Penguins after Young had won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Penguins.

Young was one of Tony Esposito’s first acquisitions as general manager of the Penguins in 1988, so when the former joined his brother, Phil, on the inaugural Lightning staff, Tampa Bay had familiarity with the goaltender.

Young found out he was joining the Lightning via expansion draft while on family vacation with his children at Disney in Orlando. The Youngs stuck to their vacation plans, but Tampa media came to chat with him poolside to introduce him to fans.

Tampa Bay’s 7-3 win on opening night in 1992 was nearly perfect. The Lightning took a 2-0 lead before Chicago got on the board when Cam Russell’s flipped puck from center-ice took an odd bounce into the net behind Young. Russell and Young are from the same hometown
Near Halifax, Nova Scotia, and they occasionally reminisce about the odd goal.

Young laughed about it last week.

“He (Russell) said he’s going to tell his kids how he went through the whole team and scored on me on a breakaway, but he dumped it in from the other side of center ice and changed, I went out to block it and it just hit the ice and shot right back into the other corner of the net. A lot of things happened that opening night,” the former goalie shared.

Tampa Bay finished near the bottom of the NHL standings in its inaugural season, finishing with a 23-54 record. The Lightning were fighting to prove the NHL could have a permanent home in Tampa, and everyone in the home locker room could see it from night one, Young said.

“I’ve been so fortunate in my career, but to walk into an unbelievable group of guys that enjoyed each other off-ice and on-ice and worked together as a team, we might not look successful on the points, but we were really successful I think in getting the franchise started and people appreciating hockey in the Tampa area.”

Young remembered losing a game 4-2 that season, but fans in the building still treated players to a standing ovation for their effort.

“I don’t think anybody in sports has experienced that, but it was because we just played as hard as we could. Our guys were tough, and we gave it every night,” Young said. “That was kind of the trademark of our team, and I think we brought in new hockey fans and really educated the Tampa Bay area on hockey. So we’re proud of the fact that we were part of the first group.”

Young remains in hockey today, working as the vice chairman and governor of the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League. Visits to Tampa are harder to plan than they were previously, but the Lightning organization and opening night are special pieces to Young’s story. He had lunch with Pat Jablonski, one of his fellow Tampa Bay goalies in 1992-93, just last week.

And one last thing—that old hockey joke that goalies are weird or different? Young has a good argument against that potential jab.

When people learn Young played in the NHL, they often ask how many teeth he lost. That’s usually when he likes to share he was a goalie. Or as he describes it, one of the smart ones.

“There’s a fine line between bravery and stupidity. Standing in front of a puck going 100 miles an hour, I don’t know which one it is. Am I stupid or brave,” he asked through a laugh. “Something you better notice, though, check hockey management or media. They’re very analytical, and so many are goalies…I always say, we’re the smart ones, we’re the analytical ones. Remember, I still have all my teeth with the mask on, so who’s the dumb one?”

Puppa: ’The focus is constant’

Puppa joined the Lightning in June 1993 when the team selected him in the second phase of the expansion draft. The goalie went on to play seven seasons with the Lightning before retiring in 2000.

He still lives in the Tampa area, working as a realtor while staying connected to the game as a goaltending consultant and coach.

“It was quite a transition, I guess, going from Toronto to Tampa Bay at the time. Tampa Bay is a great organization and everybody wants to come here, but at the time we were just starting out with that expansion draft,” Puppa remembered of his first moments with the Lightning.

He finished his NHL career with a record of 179-161-54, an .897 save percentage and 19 shutouts between the Lightning, Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs. He posted the best season of his career with the Lightning in 1995-96, going 29-16-9 with a .918 save percentage and a career-high five shutouts.

To be a good goaltender, you have to keep your mind right, according to Puppa.

“The focus is constant. You don’t get any time off,” he said. “Players play maybe 15, 20 minutes of the game, and you play 60 minutes so you can’t let down. You’re the last line of defense, so if you make a mistake everybody knows it. The red light goes on, fans start screaming, either cheering or booing.”

The former Bolt said modern goalies all rely on a butterfly playing style now opposed to the stand-up netminder strategy of old. Puppa preferred playing in a modified butterfly pattern during his NHL days and joked perhaps he was born a few years too early.

Being a goalie can be tough, but it is also accompanied by hefty rewards when you do it well, according to Puppa. He said the NHL’s progression of skill and growth has been impressive since he played, and that includes between the pipes.

“It’s a great league for goalies right now. The shooters are really good, the game is fast. I don’t think you get bored back there,” he said. “You really can’t play the clutch and grab game anymore which creates more chances and makes it more exciting as a goalie because you have a chance to make big saves and make a difference in the game.”