One Year Old? Already?

Today is the day when people overspend on things with hearts on them just to make their significant others happy, but today is hardly about that for me.  Today marks the one year anniversary of this blog that you may or may not be reading on a regular basis.  So, what is there to write about on the day that this blog started?  How about something that went under the radar over the weekend in the midst of the beer review week and Friday Night Metal: the Islanders and Penguins Fight Night on Friday.

The entire Islanders/Pens fight began in earnest in the previous meeting between the two teams, which you will recall included a goalie fight that saw Brent Johnson knock out Rick DiPietro, resulting in DiPietro being out of action for 4-6 weeks.  Fast forward to Friday, and the Islanders had it in for the Penguins.  The primary targets?  Maxime Talbot and Johnson, and the primary participants in the brawl were Trevor Gillies, Matt Martin, Michael Haley, and Eric Godard, oh, and Talbot and Johnson were also involved.  The final damage saw both teams amass 346 penalty minutes, 10 ejections, and both teams with benches resembling ghost towns.  Gillies, Martin, and Godard all received suspensions for their roles in the fight, and the Islanders were also fined.  Now, looking at that game and the Boston Bruins vs. Montreal Canadiens fight on Wednesday, there are two things that separate the two:  first, the Isles were clearly there to give the Penguins payback for the DiPietro injury, and had their enforcers out there to do such things, as Gillies' shift times amounted to about 16 seconds for six times on the ice.  The Bruins and Canadiens have some recent history, too, only it wasn't premeditated like the Islanders' plan was; the Wednesday game had about half of the penalty minutes, and only when the game was almost over was blood shed.

I'm not excusing either incident, but one can clearly see intent when it comes to the Friday night game, as opposed to the Wednesday night game.  I'm not surprised the NHL acted quickly on the Isles game as opposed to the Bruins game, but I would have hoped for just a little more action taken on that game, namely the Gillies hit on Eric Tangradi that ignited the third period brawl.  I would have added five more games to the ten that Gillies received, and Haley should have gotten something for the fight with Johnson.  The Islanders have been out of the playoff race for some time, now they have reached a new low with Friday night's game, something that Isles fans should be embarassed about.