It was a game filled with guys ending up in spaces they shouldn’t be.
And, no, we’re not just talking about Marc-Andre Fleury taking up room in Tomas Vokoun’s crease. Heey-oh!
In the third period of Game 4 of the Pittsburgh Penguins-New York Islanders series — which is turning out to be must-see TV — Pens agitator Matt Cooke lays a hard body check on Isles winger Matt Martin near the teams’ benches. The two forwards exchange shoves, but neither wants to commit a penalty in a one-goal game.
Problem is, Cooke needs to get off the ice for a line change and Martin is standing in his path, staring him down, daring him to do something stupid.
Cooke’s response? He brings Martin into the Penguins’ bench with him, and Martin gets trapped amongst a bunch of white sweaters as play goes on. Brenden Morrow joins in on the action, too.
Another space invasion occurred after the final buzzer sounded on the Islanders’ 6-4 home victory.
As Penguins star Evgeni Malkin bent over to search for his chain, which was ripped off his neck during an end-of-game scrum, an Islanders fan reached through the camera hole in the glass and grabbed himself a mittful of Geno pants.
The scene was immortalized on imgur.com:
