Paul Bissonnette has gotten under Islanders great Butch Goring’s skin again.
Bissonnette, the outspoken TNT analyst and Spittin’ Chiclets podcaster, ripped Islanders fans Monday for booing their former star, Maple Leafs captain John Tavares, reaching 1,000 career points at UBS Arena, and Goring, the Isles’ TV analyst, fired back.
“The Islanders fans booed the jumbotron congratulating a guy getting 1,000 points tonight. I’m still in shock. Where’s Gregg Popovich when you need him? Clown show,” Bissonnette wrote Monday on X.
“Why don’t you show up at the UBS, then they can boo a clown with Zero points,” Goring, 74, responded, according to a screenshot Bissonnette posted.
Bissonnette, who had 22 points in 202 NHL games across six seasons, turned things up a notch Tuesday.
“Butchy wants the smoke,” he said. “I’m declaring war on the Islanders. Nobody comes at my captain.”
Bissonnette, 38, then turned his attention to Islanders president and GM Lou Lamoriello.
“Lou sending Butch to do his dirty work like usual,” Bissonnette wrote. “The Islanders are ran like the mafia. Bunch of bullies.”
In another post, Bissonnette posted an image of Lamoriello’s head on the body of what appeared to be Don Corleone from “The Godfather.”
“I’m not afraid of you Lou. You or your goons. Bring it,” Bissonnette wrote.
Goring, who after arriving from the Kings in a trade helped the Islanders win their four straight Stanley Cups in the 1980s, previously took issue with Bissonnette’s commentary on TNT in February, when he said he’d rather see the Sabres in the playoffs over the “boring” and “snoozefest” Islanders.
“Imagine all the hockey fans who had to watch this guy for even a minute,” Goring responded at the time. “People who live in a glass house should not throw stones.”
Goring, the Islanders’ TV game analyst, had his No. 91 retired by the Isles in 2020.
