I cannot tell if tonight’s game between the New York
Islanders and the Pittsburgh Penguins classifies as a hockey game or a game of ‘Punch
Out.’ There was bad blood left over from
the last meeting between these two teams where Rick DiPietro had his face
busted up and Blake Comeau was given a concussion on a hit by Max Talbot.
It was the Talbot incident from the last game that
seemed to set fire to the first altercation of the night when the Islanders Matt
Martin attempted to sucker-punch of Talbot, while up 6-0 that started the first
of many line brawls on the night. Martin
should be and likely will be suspended for the sucker-punch for multiple games.
Later in the game came another line brawl, which this
time was set off by Trevor Gillies dirty leaping elbow to Eric Tangradi, which
was only made worse by his punching him in the back of the head while he was on
the ice. Gillies should get at least 10
games for his actions in this incident.
During this fight Michael Haley, who was just called
up from the AHL, fought Max Talbot and then proceeded to be a “real-man” and
challenge Brent Johnson to a skater-vs-fighter bout. Johnson seemed to be game for the fight, but
as he should Eric Godard came in to stick up for his goalie. The only problem with that is Godard left the
bench to do so, which will result in a significant suspension for him.
By the time the action was done the Penguins had a grand total of two players left on their bench and the Islanders had a whopping four. As of now the official total is 351 penalty minutes in the game according to the official scoresheet, but that could change. Oh yea, there was a result to the game too with the Isles winning 9-3.
