Who remembers Fight Night at Nassau Colisuem between the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins?
On Feb. 11, 2011, the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins met at Nassau Coliseum.
At the time, both teams were in the Atlantic Division and, on paper, seemed like an unsuspecting matchup.
Pittsburgh was well on its way to returning to the playoffs, entering with a 35-17-4 record, while the Islanders were out of the running, boasting a 18-29-7 mark.
However, the game became one of the most infamous in Islanders' history: Fight Night.
Before we dive into the extra-curricular events, the Islanders did, in fact, with the game.
New York started out white hot in the first period, with Travis Hamonic, Jesse Joenssu, P.A. Parenteau, and Michael Grabner lighting the lamp. They found the back of the net four more times in the second on goals by Micheal Haley, John Tavares, and two from Matt Moulson, with the Pittsburgh goals coming from Letang and Jordan Staal.
Tyler Kennedy and Grabner traded goals in a 9-3 Islanders win.
However, the score was overshadowed by the hatred these two teams had for one another.
The game featured a combined 346 penalty minutes between the teams, 183 for New York and 163 for Pittsburgh.
The fisticuffs began at 10:22 of the first period, as Craig Adams and Michael Haley dropped the gloves, followed by Eric Godard and Trevor Gillies trading blows seven minutes later.
The two fights were a preview of exchanges to come.
The middle frame saw the first of many multi-man scrums featuring sanctions to four players. Matt Martin and Deryk Engelland got into an altercation, leading both to the penalty box and Martin taking an extra two minutes for instigation. Josh Bailey and Pascal Dupuis also fought, resulting in both getting five and a game.
By the time the game was over, the Islanders had 11 players left, backup goaltender included, and eight players that avoided taking any penalties at all.
In the aftermath, Martin and Gillies were suspended four and nine games, respectively, while the Islanders organization fined $100,000.
