Pens/Islanders on 2/11/11

Hockey is a rough sport. You get hit. Guys fight. And that's great. But tonight was ridiculous. I'm livid. I've never been so angry about a game before. Ever.

Edit 2/12: I'm a Pens fan, so this is going to be biased. Just a warning.

The pretext to this was the goalie fight the last time the Pens played the Islanders. At the end of the game, Johnson and DiPietro fought, and Johnny laid a solid hit on DiPietro, sending him to the ground. Upon entering the fight DiPietro was smiling like Johnny wasn't actually going to hit him, but apparently Johnny didn't get the memo. The whole Pens bench was laughing and hugging Johnny because he had come to the aid of Matt Cooke, who DiPietro had tripped. No one knew DiPietro was hurt. They were just laughing because two goalies had fought and it was damn funny. DiPietro suffered a facial fracture, which sucks, but that kind of thing happens. Here's their goalie fight:



Well, coming into the game, the Islanders were pissed. I guess I would be too. Their goalie dropped like he was hit by Tyson. They were also mad because of Max's CLEAN hit on Comeau. Comeau got up fine, but had concussion symptoms later on. This sucks for the Islanders, but there's no doubt that the the Islanders were totally out for blood tonight. It was just insane.

It started with a few smaller fights in the 1st period, and escalated into a free-for-all by the third. These were the things that really made me angry:

• Two-handed slash to Letang's leg by Tavares after Letang gave him a clean hit. Tanger was having trouble getting up, but returned for the 2nd period. Tavares went in the box for (I think) 2 minutes. Tanger got a goal.
  

• Sucker punch to Max from Martin. Max put a hit on someone, Martin then comes behind Max and tries to sucker punch him in the head. He ends up pulling his jersey and Max goes to the ground. Then all hell breaks loose. Dupuis, Rupp and Engelland fight some Islanders. Everyone gets misconducts. What a birthday for Max Talbot. Here's the sucker punch:
  

• After fighting Max to the ground after another hit, Haley decided to engage Johnson. Coming to Johnny's aid was Godard who left the bench, because IT'S UNACCEPTABLE FOR PEOPLE TO GO AFTER GOALIES, UNLESS YOU ARE A GOALIE. Godard's facing a 10-game suspension. Bylsma will probably get a suspension and a $10,000 fine. The team itself will also probably be fined.

• After yet another hit, Tangradi is wrestled to the ground. Obviously hurt, he's doubled over on the ice and Gillies is standing by the gate gloating and bitching at Tangradi with his awful movie-villain mustache. After the game, Bylsma reported that Tangradi is showing concussion-like symptoms.
  

• They tried to kill Max Talbot. That wasn't just hockey fighting. That was really, seriously, trying to hurt another human being. Not cool.
  

Those were the worst, for me at least. There was a lot of stuff to choose from. The refs had no control of the game. Guys were getting seriously injured. There were only a couple players left on the bench toward the end of the third period because everyone had been thrown out of the game.

It was hard to watch. Anyone that praises this game is an idiot. NYI, I'm sure it feels nice to win a game, but your players were completely out of line. You're an embarrassment to the league. And none of you have even apologized. Say what you want about Matt Cooke, but he's a saint next to some of the guys that were involved tonight. Yeah, the hit on Savard sucked, but he was going for a shoulder to shoulder hit. Cooke also said, after hitting Tyutin, that he was glad no one got hurt. That's more than anyone's said on the Islanders. (Edit: I know Cooke's kind of a douche, but he wasn't even playing tonight. I only brought him up because people were saying, on Twitter, that Pens fans has no right to complain because Cookie's on our team.)

Here's the list of the record-breaking number of penalties tonight: http://content.usatoday.com/sportsdata/hockey/nhl/game/Penguins_Islanders/2011/02/11

Letang's my favorite player, so that's why I'll use him. There was a point where Letang had been hit hard and was laying on the ice, while Johnson, after being plowed into by some Islander in the net (edit: Said Islander was pushed by a Pens player, so it's not his fault. Thanks, SkySareBlue), looked hurt. Letang, still unable to get up, crawled over to Johnny to make sure he was okay, and the rest of the guys brawled by the glass. That's what being a team looks like; when you're hurting but you still crawl over to your bro to make sure he's okay. It's at 5:12 in this video. Also in this video are all of the other fights in the game:



For all of the crap that went on this game, at least the boys know how to defend their own. I still maintain that 95% (Edit: okay...maybe 90%) of the nonsense was started by Islanders, especially in Martin's case. Just watch the game. It's there. Pens lost 9-3. They played bad. But that game was an embarrassment to the NHL. There's no way that should have escalated to that point.

Haley should have been taken to the box. He wouldn't have been able to go after Johnny. Then Godard wouldn't have had to come to his aid and we wouldn't have a suspended player, coach and a hefty fine. Hopefully the NHL takes that into account when making its final decisions.

Also, they had it in for Talbot. If Max wouldn't have reacted as quickly, that hit could have been Bertuzzi/Moore vol. 2. If you don't know, this is the Bertuzzi cheap-shot:



Bertuzzi ended Moore's career. Moore suffered a broken neck, concussion, and facial cuts. Given what Martin tried to do, this could have been Max Talbot. Absolutely ridiculous.

Pens/Isles play again on 4/8/11. I want to go. They hurt Letang again, you better believe you'll see my ass hobbling on the ice, trying to fight somebody.

And seriously, when Letang tells the ref to "go f*** himself," you know something's up. He's not that kind of guy.

(All edits are from 2/12. In my defense, it was like 1 a.m. when I finished this post, not the 8:53 that is says, and I was still livid. Probably should have waited till today to say anything, but I needed to rant.)