Yes, there are always two sides to every story. But not all stories have video tape -- and commentary. It started with this.
A bump. Childish as Rob Schremp called it. A frustrating games for two teams that are both struggling and need to find ways to win has caused Ottawa goalie Robin Lehner to push Kevin Poulin at center ice. Yes, it seemed childish. It caused a commotion and Travis Hamonic skated over to Lehner to give him “what for”, Jack Capuano started yelling “Hey! Hey!” from behind the bench and a linesman had to keep Trevor Gillies at bay before there would be blood on the ice.
Luckily, Poulin, as young as he is, knew it would be better to let it go than to retaliate. To do so could have hurt the team as well as potentially sustaining an injury. At this point in the Islanders’ season, they could not tolerate another goalie injury.
“I did my job. I stayed composed and stayed out.” That is what Kevin Poulin said in the post game report. It was a smart move. “I just keep my mind in the hockey game.”
While in my estimation, Kevin did the right thing by not engaging Lehner, I have heard from other fans who felt he should have stuck up for himself. But perhaps that is just a desire to make up for Rick’s unfortunate beat-down.
“He give me the shoulder and the push and I was just surprised and fell backwards.” That is how Poulin saw the incident. However, in the post game interview with Robin Lehner, he saw things quite differently. He said that Poulin was yapping at him and initiated the altercation.
When Poulin was told of this by the reporter, he seemed surprised. “Well, I don’t know if he was looking at me or someone else, but I was going to the bench first. No I didn’t ay anything.”
Now, take a listen to Lehner’s interview. I was surprised that he felt the refs calling a penalty on him was the wrong call. “He came towards me and I won’t back down.” Hmmm… He also admitted the frustration of not being able to get a win and that he was a big part of it.
Think about it. One of these goalies is correct. So how do we know who is telling the truth?
Rob Schremp, who scored two goals in this 5 - 3 Islander win said it was a bad penalty for the Senators’ 19-year-old Swedish goalie to take. “We used to do that in Pee Wee’s when you’re kinda pouting. I didn’t think it was necessary.”
Ty Wishart, who made his debut with the Islanders Saturday and had a two-point night stood in the locker room wearing that hard hat that needs a new paint job. When asked about the incident, he admitted he didn’t actually see the contact between Lehner and Poulin.
“I haven’t seen “Pouls” that fired up in a while so, it must have been pretty dirty.” is what Ty told Dyan during the post game. Now, Ty has been with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers since his acquisition from Tampa Bay in January. But has 22-year-old Ty played with Kevin Poulin elsewhere? I’m not sure. He seems to have played with Travis Hamonic before as he called him a good friend.
Matt Moulson, who scored his 18th goal on Saturday said Lehner may have been a little frustrated because “We got in his kitchen a little.” and said he may have bumped him on the shift before. Asked if it was a stupid penalty for Lehner to take, Matt said “We scored on that penalty and it ended up being the winning goal.“
Frustrating a goalie, according to Matt, means the team is doing their job. Saturday night, the Isles did a REALLY good job -- at annoying Robin Lehner.
Sidenote: Islanders GM Garth Snow will be answering questions Live on the second installment of the GM show tomorrow at 1 pm on the website. Now, that should be interesting.
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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