Report: Islanders Viewing Party Switches Games

According to Stu Hackel of SI.com, the Islanders have decided to replace the game shown at Friday's Isles MeetUp at Champions from the brawl filled 9-3 domination of the Pittsburgh Penguins to the "very good but not as great" 7-6 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres.

In a statement, the team said, “The New York Islanders have requested that MSG Network change the originally scheduled game to be viewed at the Friday, Aug. 19 meetup. As a part of MSG Plus’ Summer Ice programming, the schedule had the Islanders game from Friday, Feb. 11 against the Pittsburgh Penguins set to air at 7 p.m. Instead MSG Plus will air the Islanders 7-6 overtime victory on Sunday, Feb. 13 over the Buffalo Sabres.”

This came after a media/fan outrage when the Islanders announced they would be showing the controversial Penguins game at the meetup earlier this week.

CH: This is likely the last time we reference this Penguins game unless it is in passing. There is little question the NHL pressured the Islanders into taking the Pens game off, to which the Isles responded by asking MSG to change the game. We can argue for hours if it is hypocritical (it is, given the NHL shows plenty of brawl filled games on NHL Network), or a bad PR stunt or whatever. What's sad is the Islanders seem to be more worried about their competitors customers than their own, but one would have to imagine their hand was forced. Either way, the debate is pointless.

Both fanbases have made themselves out to be martyrs during this week, which is wrong. The Islanders, highlighted by Trevor Gillies' inexplicable hit and taunt of Eric Tangradi, did plenty wrong during the game. The Penguins, highlighted by Eric Godard jumping the bench to "save" Brent Johnson, did some questionable things as well. The fact is this game is now going on six months old, and everyone needs to get over it.

But by get over it, I don't mean forget about it. This game meant so much to Islander fans, including myself, and no one can ever take that away from us.  Some quick final points:

• The Islanders played a potential defining game in their rebuild, one in which their fans are certainly treating it as such. That cannot be taken away from the Islanders or their fans, no matter how much other parties try.
• The Pens, right or wrong, did not like the events that went down in this game. It seems the organization is over it. Their fans and the media - not so much. That's what propelled this to levels of ridiculousness.
• I still do not understand why a fan gathering of 150 fans on Long Island affects a single person in Pittsburgh
• A renewed rivalry between the Islanders and Penguins is great for the league. The Atlantic Division is filled top to bottom with rivalries, which increases the passion and quality of play.

AT: At this point, I'm not sure if there's going to be any matchups with Atlantic division teams where the fans of each team don't absolutely despise each other. The fact that the media and the league have blown this completely out of proportion is disgusting, slightly infuriating and somewhat amusing. If this is how bored fans get during the offseason, man, I really can't wait for the season to start just so we can start arguing over actual hockey, not viewing parties. That's all I can say on this. Grow up, Pittsburgh fans. You have a star player who is the face of the NHL - one who may never play again. Methinks you have better things to worry about.