The next in a series of blogs reviewing some of my favourite moments from the just-completed 2010-11 National Hockey League season:
The New York Islanders vs. Pittsburgh Penguins clash on the evening of February 11, 2011 was one of the most anticipated re-matches of the season. Not so much for anything that happened on the scoreboard in the previous contest - it was a comfortable 3-0 win to the Penguins at home - but for the extra-curricular activity that occurred with less than 20 seconds to play in the game.
It was the usual cheap shot artist Matt Cooke who ran into the Islanders' goalie, Rik DiPietro, which brought about a brawl in the corner. Towards the end of that brawl, DiPietro marched out of his goal, skated to centre ice, beckoning his opposite number, the Penguins back-up, Brent Johnson. The rest, as they say, was history:
That one, solid punch from Johnson broke DiPietro's jaw and the Islanders goalie missed the rest of the season. There was disturbing footage aired in the days after the game, showing the Penguins bench laughing at DiPietro's misfortune. Things happen on the ice that are unfortunate, and sometimes career-threatening, but laughing at a guy's misfortune is pretty low.
Quite obviously, seeing the opposition laughing as your star goalie is carted off, and destined to miss the remainder of the season did not sit well with the Islanders. That's why, when the two teams met again 9 days later, this time at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, and in front of a much larger than usual crowd. It was a badly-kept secret that there would be some carry-over nastiness, and fans wanted to see what might happen. The situation was inflamed pre-game, when the Islanders brought up a gentleman named Michael Haley, a minor leaguer with a reputation for not being at all shy to drop the mitts. The game was ready to explode.
The Islanders burst out of the box, up a goal early when Haley made his presence known, taking on Pittsburgh's Craig Adams
It got better when the Islander's other resident tough guy Trevor Gillies got into a scrap with Pittsburgh's Eric Godard.
The Islanders scored 6 unanswered, and had the run of general play and the fights before this line brawl erupted with 14:39 to play in the second. It was a case of direct retaliation on Max Talbot for a hit from the previous game, a questionable one on Islanders' Blake Comeau, and it quickly became an all-in affair.
The man all the Islanders had marked was the goalie, Johnson. He had started the contest, and was relieved by regular starter Marc-Andre Fleury in the second period as the score got out of hand, but some questionable late hits on Fleury convinced the Penguins to pull their star, and put Johnson back in. Of course, that was exactly what the Islanders were hoping for.
Five minutes into the third period, the crowd at Nassau Coliseum and Isles fans everywhere got what they wanted, in spectacular fashion. Michael Haley decided to find Max Talbot in the scrum, some further retribution after Matt Martin had earlier tried his hand. It was a super-serve of Haley, who beat down Talbot and skated down ice, wanting to settle things with Johnson.
Settle, Haley did. Of course, he was suspended, but Eric Godard of the Penguins, the brave man who skated in to help a badly-outmatched Brent Johnson, received an automatic ten-game suspension for leaving the bench to join a fight.
Some other notes:
The final score: 9-3 Islanders.
The final count on penalty minutes: 346 (multiple fines and suspensions as well)
NYI's Travis Hamonic recorded a Gordie Howe Hat Trick - a fight, a goal and an assist in the same game
NYI's Michael Haley scored his first NHL goal, somewhere in between a raft of fighting majors.
The non-fight highlights of the game are below:
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