After this announcement, the media took it upon themselves to call it another instance of the Islanders, well, being the Islanders - aka being a classless, joke of an organization with no respect for the league, its fans, and its players. Some links (hat tip to Islandermania):
CBS Sports
Pro Hockey Talk
The Pens Blog
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Deadspin
And the one positive article:
Puck Daddy
Of course, we all know the Islanders have done some, well, loony things over the years. Does that mean this is one of them? Absolutely not. First of all, the Islanders have had quite a few meet-ups over the course of the summer, including one a few weeks ago joined by Matt Moulson to rewatch Game 4 from the 2002 playoffs against Toronto. They are not just having a one-time event to celebrate their biggest and most gratifying win of the season.
This is a game that MSG+, not the Islanders, is re-airing. Every summer, MSG/MSG+ shows the top games of the season for the Islanders, Rangers, Knicks, and Devils. Can one person argue that this is not one of the Islanders games of the season? Remember, they scored nine goals. This exact game would be a highlight for every single team in the league if they played it. Yes, even the Penguins.
Let's take a look at the game itself. Other than the Trevor Gillies/Eric Tangradi incident, which is completely and utterly indefensible, what exactly was so wrong? One could argue the Matt Martin on Max Talbot sequence. I have seen this compared to Todd Bertuzzi/Steve Moore. This could not be farther from the truth. In fact, Martin has the ability to completely suckerpunch Talbot in the back of his head, but when he saw Talbot turtle, he held up. Still, his suspension was warranted and that should have closed the book on that.
One could argue the Micheal Haley trio of fights, including the one against goalie Brent Johnson. Except for the fact that Johnson was out at the blueline challenging Haley. And while that was happening, former Islander Eric Godard jumped off the bench to interfere. Yet the Islanders were the ones fined for losing control of their players - completely justifiable, but it goes both ways.
In fact, it was not even the game itself - which from start to finish was a complete annihilation by the Islanders, but it was the post-game reaction from fans and players alike. Without taking a time machine back to February 12 - we all know about Mario Lemieux's statement, the media commentary, and fan commentary, we can honestly say the fact that this game is being branded as the worst thing to happen to the NHL last season is absolutely ridiculous.
It has been six months since that game. It is time for everybody - Islander fans, Penguin fans, the media - to get over it. For one night, the Islanders were the better team. For one night, they beat the Penguins with their hockey sticks and with their fists. The next game, in April, the Isles and Pens battled to a 65-minute draw before a Penguins victory in the skills competition. Now, all we want to do is look forward for the teams' first meeting of the season in October.
The whining by Pittsburgh, especially The Pensblog, needs to stop. The Islanders are not celebrating this game like they won the Stanley Cup. They are trying to establish a connection to their fans through social media, by replaying a game shown by MSG+ as one of the highlights of the season. They have done it for other games. And after this, they will do it for more. This is not an anti-Penguins event - it is to get fans excited for the 2011-12 season. Because let's face it, there is nothing the Islanders have done transaction wise to get the casual fan excited.
We completely defend the organization here. And we would do so even if it was a one-time event. If the rest of the league wants to call the Isles pathetic and classless and a waste of the team, then the fans and team should embrace that identity. No, they should not goon it up - that is not what I am saying. But they should wear that chip on their shoulder, play hard and drive to get better so that in the end - they can be the ones that said "We told you so." So on that note, because well, we loved that game, here are the highlights:
AT: Just to add in a quick comment, I completely agree with Carey here. Penguin fans need to grow up. We've had a terrible past few seasons and this game (along with the other games MSG replays) was one of the few moments last season that Islander fans really had something to celebrate. No, not the Gillies or Martin cheapshots, but standing up to a team in general that has completely disrespected us - even after being in our situation not too long ago with both their arena and on ice problems. Totally pathetic showing by the once again hypocritical Pittsburgh fans and media who still have Matt Cooke on their roster, one of the most renowned cheap shot artists in the game. In the past few months, this is the only major mention of the game, and in itself it isn't really that major. Just a simple meetup for Isles fans through social media. Yet, it seems as if we've left a stinger embedded deep within the city of Pittsburgh that not even the best pair of pliers could possibly pull out.
It's pretty funny as well how the general media has completely misunderstood everything about the game to this day, even with the information out there. Such as Deadspin inferring that the DiPietro-Johnson fight took place on the same night that the 9-3 game occurred. Stick to making jabs at Brett Favre's endowment, Deadspin.
I think the uproar over this is hilarious and I hope the Islanders do more things similar to this in the future as long as it aggravates Penguins fans and the uneducated media. We already have no sympathy around the league, it's time to put up our guns - and not just on the ice. As fans.
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