Unless You Beat the Shit Out of the First Person that Laughs.
First off, lets gets some of the numbers out there for you to digest:
taken from ESPN.com
346 total penalty minutes:
taken from ESPN.com
346 total penalty minutes:
163 for the Penguins16 fighting majors:
183 for the Islanders
1st Period: Michael Haley, Craig Adams, Eric Godard, Trevor Gillies21 Game Misconducts:
2nd Period: Josh Bailey, Pascal Dupuis, Travis Hamonic, Mike Rupp, Matt Martin, Maxime Talbot,
3rd Period: Brent Johnson, Maxime Talbot, Michael Haley, Michael Haley, Andrew MacDonald, Joe Vitale
2nd Period: Josh Bailey, Pascal Dupuis, Mike Rupp, Deryk Engelland, Travis Hamonic, Matt Martin, Matt Martin
3rd Period: Eric Godard, Eric Godard, Craig Adams, Michael Haley, Michael Haley, Trevor Gillies, Trevor Gillies, Maxime Talbot, Zenon Konopka, Kris Letang, Kyle Okposo, Brett Sterling, Jack Hillen, Ryan Craig
This was a game that the Islanders circled on their calendar 10 days ago, after they were embarrassed on national TV (is VS national TV?) by the Penguins. The game featured a questionable hit by Max Talbot on Blake Comeau that left Comeau with a concussion, a goalie fight between Brent Johnson and Rick DiPietro that left DiPietro with a broken face, and an image of the Penguins players laughing at the Islanders from the bench. The Islanders' frustration has been growing for weeks as many of their young talented players have been targeted and run on numerous occasions. The Islanders choose last night to show the league that they were not going to take it anymore.
It has been a long time since the NHL has seen a revenge game live up to its billing, but this one did. The game started with both teams laying heavy hits at every opportunity. The teams had combined for 15 hits by the first commercial break, and all of them were heavy hits. By the end of the first the Islanders had taken their revenge payments in the form of goals, leading 0-4, but with time running out in the first Kris Letang slashed John Tavares hard on the hands and then attempted to slew-foot him into the boards seconds later, and the Islanders decided to change currencies to flesh. Tavares, from his knees, slashed Letang hard in the sheen/ankle and left him crippled on the ice as the Islanders skated to the locker room.
The second period featured Matt Martin jumping Maxime Talbot from behind, Todd Bertuzzi style but with out the results. This sparked the first line brawl. The third period featured the Islanders' Trevor Gillies taking out Eric Tangradi with a questionable charging elbow, followed by Gillies attacking a dazed Tangradi. This sparked another line brawl that had Eric Godard jumping of the bench to protect his goalie who was engaging in a fight with Micheal Haley (pictured above). The entire game was riddled with heavy hits, off the play cross checks, off the play slashes, and questionable checks coming from both teams. In short it was joy to watch.
I was truly pleased to finally see a team stand up for themselves. The Islanders finally had enough of their stars being run and injured and decided to do something about it. They probably stepped over the line a few times, but they needed to let the Pens and the rest of the league know that they were no longer going to stand by as liberties were taken against them. Opposing teams will have this game in the back of their heads when they player the Islanders the rest of the year.
Many will argue that this kind of behavior doesn't belong in the NHL, but I do see a place for it. Why should a team sit back wait for a teammate to be injured before the league hands out suspensions, when they can hand out their own form of discipline immediately? If the Islanders had responded this way earlier in the season, maybe Tavares isn't getting run every game.
I am interested to see the ripple effect of this game. Will the league step in and take action to try and prevent this from happening again? Will other teams respond in similar ways the rest of the season. All I know is that it has been a crazy week in the NHL, and I hope that it continues.
It has been a long time since the NHL has seen a revenge game live up to its billing, but this one did. The game started with both teams laying heavy hits at every opportunity. The teams had combined for 15 hits by the first commercial break, and all of them were heavy hits. By the end of the first the Islanders had taken their revenge payments in the form of goals, leading 0-4, but with time running out in the first Kris Letang slashed John Tavares hard on the hands and then attempted to slew-foot him into the boards seconds later, and the Islanders decided to change currencies to flesh. Tavares, from his knees, slashed Letang hard in the sheen/ankle and left him crippled on the ice as the Islanders skated to the locker room.
The second period featured Matt Martin jumping Maxime Talbot from behind, Todd Bertuzzi style but with out the results. This sparked the first line brawl. The third period featured the Islanders' Trevor Gillies taking out Eric Tangradi with a questionable charging elbow, followed by Gillies attacking a dazed Tangradi. This sparked another line brawl that had Eric Godard jumping of the bench to protect his goalie who was engaging in a fight with Micheal Haley (pictured above). The entire game was riddled with heavy hits, off the play cross checks, off the play slashes, and questionable checks coming from both teams. In short it was joy to watch.
I was truly pleased to finally see a team stand up for themselves. The Islanders finally had enough of their stars being run and injured and decided to do something about it. They probably stepped over the line a few times, but they needed to let the Pens and the rest of the league know that they were no longer going to stand by as liberties were taken against them. Opposing teams will have this game in the back of their heads when they player the Islanders the rest of the year.
Many will argue that this kind of behavior doesn't belong in the NHL, but I do see a place for it. Why should a team sit back wait for a teammate to be injured before the league hands out suspensions, when they can hand out their own form of discipline immediately? If the Islanders had responded this way earlier in the season, maybe Tavares isn't getting run every game.
I am interested to see the ripple effect of this game. Will the league step in and take action to try and prevent this from happening again? Will other teams respond in similar ways the rest of the season. All I know is that it has been a crazy week in the NHL, and I hope that it continues.
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