With league disciplinarian Colin Campbell in attendance, there was no way the NHL was going to allow last night’s Islanders-Penguins game to become the “Rematch at the Coliseum.”
Instead, it became a lively end to the Islanders’ home schedule, a 4-3 shootout loss in front of the third straight Coliseum sellout — most of whom came to see another brawl but instead left cheering loudly for a team that never seems to give up.
“We did a great job working hard, and we had a chance to win at the end,” said Blake Comeau, who scored two goals but was part of the three Islanders shooters to get blanked in the shootout, bested by Chris Kunitz’s lone score for the Penguins.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game with what happened last time.”
Last time was Feb. 11, when the two teams combined for 15 fighting majors, 10 ejections, 65 penalties and 346 total penalty minutes.
This time around, it was clear that disciplinary action was just one poor decision away.
When Trevor Gillies and Eric Godard dropped the gloves 8:59 in, they were both ushered off the ice with 10-minute misconducts. When Zenon Konopka and Arron Asham fought two minutes later, Konopka was hit was an instigator penalty and a misconduct.
“We were matching lines there for a little bit,” Islanders coach Jack Capuano said after what seems like a subdued game with 20 penalties and 76 penalty minutes. “When their fourth line was on the ice, we were going to put our fourth line on the ice.”
After those first 10 minutes, it was clear this was not going to be strictly for fisticuffs.
Instead, both teams played hard hockey, and Comeau’s second goal 8:14 into the second period tied the game and dug the Islanders out of a 2-0 hole. When Pittsburgh’s Mark Letestu scored four minutes later to make it 3-2, it was looking bleak, but then a Travis Hamonic slap shot found the net with just 35 seconds remaining to force overtime.
“I thought we played an excellent hockey game,” Capuano said. “I couldn’t have asked any more from the guys.”