There were some in the Pittsburgh area that didn’t exactly appreciate the wild, all-out battle that ended up with all five skaters on the ice going to the penalty box early in the third period of Thursday’s Game 3 between the Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins at Nassau Coliseum.
But Penguins coach Mike Sullivan didn’t seem bothered by it at all.
"I think it was just playoff hockey,’’ Sullivan said in his postgame press conference, when asked if he thought the Islanders were playing dirty. "Emotions run high when you’re in a seven-game series, and it’s just playoff hockey.