Islanders enforcer Zenon Konopka didn’t pull any punches Monday when talking about Penguins owner Mario Lemieux, Lemieux was critical of the NHL’s response in the aftermath of Friday’s Islanders-Penguins game that resulted in 346 penalty minutes and 10 ejections.
“I can’t believe (Mario) is so far removed from the game that he doesn’t realize in the heat of the moment what happens,” Konopka said after the Islanders skated in Ottawa on Monday in preparation for Tuesday’s game against the Senators. “We’re trying to keep our best players on the ice. We want John Tavares to be a superstar in this league and play every night. Obviously, we’re going to do everything we can to protect our players in here. It’s not an easy job to do it, but we’re worried about each other, not outsiders.”
Lemieux, who had a Hall of Fame playing career with the Penguins, issued a statement Sunday in which he bashed the league.
“Hockey is a tough, physical game, and it always should be. But what happened Friday night on Long Island wasn’t hockey. It was a travesty,” Lemieux said. “It was painful to watch the game I love turn into a sideshow like that.”
The NHL suspended Islanders forwards Trevor Gillies for nine games and Matt Martin for four, and hit the team with a $100,000 fine, saying the Islanders “must bear some responsibility for their failure to control their players.”
Pittsburgh forward Eric Godard was the only member of the Penguins’ organization to be punished by the NHL. He received an automatic 10-game suspension because he left the bench to join a fight between the Islanders’ Micheal Haley and Penguins goalie Brent Johnson.
Konopka said Monday the punishments were unfair.
”You look at Trevor Gillies,” Konopka said, according to the Ottawa newspaper. “He’s a first-time offender. He hits a guy, throws a few punches, he gets a nine-game suspension. The guy’s got a wife, two kids and plays in the East Coast Hockey League and AHL most of his career and now he’s going to lose $35,000. And it’s not right. Obviously, the league has their job and not mine, but in here, we feel for him. It hurts not to have Trevor in lineup for nine games. It hurts me, personally, my buddy, out $35,000.”