Isles, Rangers combine for 172 penalty minutes
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NEW YORK (AP) -- Alexei Yashin got his seventh career three-goal game and his first NHL fight.
No one was surprised the latter came against the New York Rangers.
Yashin scored three goals in the first period and threw some punches in a second-period melee as the Islanders beat the Rangers 6-3 Wednesday night.
"It's the exception for him," coach Peter Laviolette said of Yashin's brawling, "but against the Rangers, you never know what will pop up."
The game featured 172 minutes in penalties, 113 for the Rangers.
"It's always a rivalry with them," said Rangers captain Mark Messier, who returned after missing 11 games with a shoulder injury. "Unfortunately, tonight, by the time we realized we were in one, the game was over."
Mark Parrish also scored in the first period as the Islanders took an early 4-0 lead to chase Rangers goalie Mike Richter.
The brawls began in the second period and Yashin threw his first punches in nine seasons.
"I didn't really want to fight, I just went to see what was going on," Yashin said. "But he pulled my shirt up and sometimes you have to fight back."
Yashin battled Tomas Kloucek, who was eventually tossed after compiling 31 minutes of penalties. Yashin got a five-minute major and the discrepancy irked Rangers coach Ron Low.
"I went back and watched it afterward and Yashin throws the first punch in the fight," Low said.
Eric Cairns, who had been the main protector of the Islanders during the past four games in the series, was instructed by Laviolette to show restraint because the team was playing with just five defenders.
"We really needed him," Laviolette said. "To win, he had to log a lot of minutes."
Cairns was happy to see Yashin get his hands dirty instead.
"It was great to see some of the guys who don't fight actually show up to fight," Cairns said. "They did a great job taking the pressure off me and Jim (Cummins.)"
The Rangers were fuming that Cairns wouldn't engage in any fisticuffs.
"It just goes to prove what a chicken he really is," Theo Fleury said. "My 5-year-old son hits harder than he does. Cairns throws muffins out there. He jumped me from behind -- typical Cairns. I have no respect for that guy whatsoever, none. If you're going to talk the talk, you've got to walk the walk."
The season series between the teams is tied at 2 with one game remaining at Madison Square Garden. The road team has won every game.
Parrish finished with two goals. Claude Lapointe added a short-handed goal and Mariusz Czerkawski had three assists.
The Rangers got two third-period goals from Manny Malhotra and one from Jeff Toms.
After Richter allowed four goals on 11 shots and was replaced by Dan Blackburn, who entered in the second period and stopped 17 shots.
Ninety-four minutes of penalties were handed out in the second period, 44 in one massive brawl with about seven minutes left.
At 13:06, Czerkawski took a shot on Blackburn after an offsides whistle and Dave Karpa of the Rangers came over to exact revenge. A melee ensued, with Yashin and Kloucek trading punches and a linesman tackling an irate Fleury, who wanted in on the action.
Islanders goalie Chris Osgood came out to the blue line, challenging Blackburn, who didn't respond. Both goalies received two-minute penalties for leaving the crease.
It made Yashin's offense in the first seem like a distant memory, but he's happy to break out of a 1-for-15 goal-scoring slump.
"It was a great game for us," he said. "Hopefully, it will give us some confidence for the second half of the season."
Yashin's first goal came after he broke down the center of the ice, only to be pinned in front of the goal by Rangers defensemen Bryan Berard and Sylvain Lefebvre. The puck was cradled for a second on the stick of Czerkawski, but he fed it back to Yashin, who had broken free for an in-close flip that put the Islanders up 1-0 at 4:44.
Yashin's second goal took several minutes to confirm. His shot, on a power play at 16:11, appeared to hit the crossbar and bounce out, so play continued for about two minutes. But after a review during a break in play, the clock was reset and Yashin was given his second goal.
The puck actually hit off the "T" connection inside net.
"I couldn't really tell," Yashin said. "I'm glad it went in."
Yashin's third goal was a result of some masterful skating and stick work. Streaking down the center, Yashin poked the puck through the legs of the lone defender -- Messier -- to get free for a wide-open shot on Richter for a 4-0 lead at 17:26.
Quelle:ESPN
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*gg* Wo Fleury recht hat, da hat er wirklich recht ! Cairns is a chicken !!
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Bob Probert 01/02
games played: 50
fighting majors: 15
Penalty minutes: 150
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Gerade lief der Knock-Out in 3 Wiederholungen von verschiedenen Perspektiven
), Karpa, Czerkawski...
Und dann die demonstrative und zeremonielle Zertrümmerung auf der Spielerbank
