Wow, I haven’t witnessed this kind of thing since the North Stars skated Basil McRae and Shane Churla together. Obviously, the Islanders had vengeance on their minds. Unfortunately, the Pens gave them ample opportunity to extract revenge as they spotted the Isles a 6 goal advantage. Having a huge lead affords a team the opportunity to take some liberties.
The referees were damn near useless for this entire exchange. They never took control of the game. It seemed to really go down hill when Matt Martin sucker punched Max Talbot in the second period. Yeah, I get it, he didn’t connect cleanly, but the intent was there on the level of what Todd Berutuzzi did to Steve Moore. The referees could have set the tone at that point, but not so much. The snowball starting going down hill. After Gilles landed a flying elbow on Eric Tangradi and proceeded punching the now prone Tangradi, Michael Haley took the opportunity to engage Talbot. After that scrum was broken up, the Refs apparently felt that Haley could conduct himself appropriately. Why wouldn’t they think that as it was only his second fight of the game. The officials let him go to the penalty box on his own recognisance. Instead of peaceably going to the box, he decided to take a slight detour and skate to the other end of the ice and engage Brent Johnson in a fight. This prompted Eric Godard to defend his goaltender and leave the bench to fight with Haley.
The game went to hell from there. 322 penalty minutes. The officials let it go there. As bad as the officiating was during the game, I am quite interested in how the league handles some of the violations in terms of suspensions. We know that Godard will be suspended for leaving the bench, but there had better be more suspensions. Matt Martin’s attempted sucker punch should draw a good long suspension. If Matt Cooke gets a 4 game suspension for his hit, the hit Trevor Gilles put on Tangradi should get a stiff penalty. Hopefully, the league realizes how embarrassing this is for everyone, takes a stand and does something to prevent future such debacles.
Let’s not forget, the Pens and Isles face off one more time on April 8.
http://atvsports.wordpress.com/2011/02/15/defending-matt/
look no sucker punch …all bs an open hand
Everyone forgets the Islanders won the game 9-3 and this is revenge for the cheapshot on Blake Comeau last game by Maxim Talbot…
also, where is the 10-game suspension of Dan Blysma for sending a player off his bench to fight?
Yes, the officiating was awful, but it’s a double-edged sword. Your organization is so favored by the NHL it is disgusting. FUCK the Penguins.
Not only did Bylsma not send a player off the bench, there is no such thing as a ten game suspension for a coach sending a player off the bench. Wow. I thought all the ignorant hockey fans were from down south, apparently there is a whole sh!tload of them in NYC.
Seriously? How do stupid people get on the PenguinPoop boards? Maybe his wife showed him how to get to get on dee internet. Favored? Really? I see someone is a little green.
“Engage” Johnson? Johnson actually engaged Haley. You would know that if you watched the game. Please don’t make statements without facts to support them. Thank you.
Here’s what an impartial observer thinks of (Soon to be former) NHLer Trevor Gilles
http://nhl.fanhouse.com/2011/02/12/trevor-gillies-takes-cake-on-embarrassing-night-in-new-york/
I hate to say it, but I’m so glad this happened to Pitt.
I’m tired of Cooke/Talbot et al running around like thugs cheap shotting people and ending careers. Bettman has always protected Pittsburgh, which is why Cooke hasn’t been suspended for half a season by now. 2 games here, 4 games there….it does nothing.
A good old fashioned beat-down does far more than a measly suspension. Talbot will think twice now.
My favourite part is listening to the Pens announcers says stuff like “when is enough, enough?” or “they are trying to hurt someone”.
No kidding morons. Payback stinks doesn’t it? I’d love to see every team in the league do this to the Pens over the next month.
Couldn’t have happened to a better bunch.
Canada
Dear Canada(AKA America’s Hat, and I’m pretty sure most of your country has more brains than you do).
Talbot will think twice about what? If you are referring to the DiPietro incident than you are even stupider than I could give you credit for. If you watched the tape of that play, you’ll see that Ricky Di(The papier mache hockey player) actually came out of his crease to try and hit Talbot, but hey Sparky, don’t let the facts get in the way of a good rant. I agree with you whole heartedly about Cooke, but Haley’s hit on Talbot reminded me a lot more of what Bertuzzi did to Moore than anything Cooke has done. We’re talking about a person’s life here. I’m thinking instead of a suspension, Haley deserves to be on a chain gang somewhere cleaning roads.
Canada?
Woah there buddy. Don’t start giving us all a bad rep. Talbot will think twice about what? Delivering a legal hit? Too bad, so sad. Sucks that Comeau got a concussion, although it won’t make much of a difference. The Islanders suck either way. And the Martin punch on Talbot was a lot worst than anything Cooke has done. Bertuzzi punched Moore in a similar way in 2004 and broke Moore’s neck. It’s a lot worse than boarding.
Uh…did anyone take notice that the Isles are the Bridgeport Islanders? NO team has been wracked with injuries like the Islanders…..NONE.
Do you actually belief the things that come out of your own mouth?(Keyboard) The Islanders are the laughing stock of professional sports. Sure some teams have a bad season every now and then (Devils, Cavaliers), but no one is consistently as awful as the Isles have been for the last 30 years. Of course they were the Bridgeport Islanders last night. They called up four guys from the minors who no one will miss when they get suspended not even Bridgeport. It was like watching the final game in Slapshot, and the Penguins were the Chiefs
This is who should be suspended for 10 games: David Banfield, Dan O’Halloran, Scott Driscoll, Steve Miller the worst refs/LM in the NHL.
Seriously NHL these refs are going to continue reffing games????? That was a joke! This was the sequel to Clueless, & Dumb & Dumber combined.
Got what you deserved tonight. The Pens have been a downright dirty club lately, the likes I haven’t seen since ’93.
Who really cares if Gillies and Haley are suspended; both were in the lineup for one purpose only. bottom line is that even with the Isles depleted defence, they had gins firing. For all the dissing that the Isles get, sure looks like the future will be bright with guus like Tavares, Moulson, Nielsen, Okposo, Grabner, etc.
The Pens were utterly humiliated during the game, both mentally, physically, and amazingly, talent wise…..
um….. don’t you mean the WBS Pens were humiliated? U guys beat the tar out of our minor league team…. congrats!!!
the islanders have more injuries than the penguins. the islanders are actually more of an AHL team than the pens, and the pens got rocked. anyway, if crosby had played, he would have just whined and probably got his ass kicked. go islanders
The Islanders have injuries to players that wouldn’t even be in the NHL if there wasn’t an Islanders franchise. For 30 years, it’s been one of the most pathetic franchises is all of sports, and last night just proved again why.
Freakin rediculous! DP asked for his face to get broke. They need to get over it.