As hockey’s best show, the Islanders in their heyday were like the most popular television series. They produced a spinoff, and a long-running one at that. The Florida Panthers came from Islanders stock and the franchises still have a whole lot in common, from the roots to the rafters.
Finally, for the first time, they are facing each other in the playoffs. They will be on the same postseason ice after having spent all this time under the same family tree.
“My son Drew is an unequivocal Panther fan as is my daughter Heather. I think all of my brothers are rooting for the Panthers, too, although with a little more guilt than I am,” said Rich Torrey of Shoreham, an accomplished author/illustrator of children’s books and one of four sons of Bill Torrey, who started the Islanders as their general manager in 1972 and organized the Panthers as their president in 1993.