Isles On the Road

Even the torrential downpour didn't stop the Isles from packing up and leaving for Vancouver.

While Matt Martin didn't make the trip and was reassigned to Bridgeport, both Jeff Tambellini (groin strain) and Trent Hunter (quad) did make the trip.

Martin's hit on Phaneuf last night seems to have made quite a few of the Canadian papers. Good for him. The youngster is making a name for himself quickly.

In only his fifth NHL game, Martin (sporting a three inch healing slice under his lip and a shaved head from the Sound Tigers' St. Baldrich charity event) was running on pure adrenaline and looking to make a good impression.

It all started in warm-ups. Martin zoned in on Phaneuf early and set his sights on him in pay-back for the concussion he dealt Kyle Okposo in a worthless exhibition game in Calgary during pre-season. He vividly remembers training camp and how Phaneuf "didn't show up" when they were trying to stand up for Okposo and understood that Lundmark was just trying to stand-up for his team mate now. But Lundmark wasn't who Martin wanted to fight. "That's not the guy I wanted to fight. I didn't get a chance to do that tonight, but we have long memories and stuff like that sits around with us."

Phanuef was a little shaken up by the hit which came immediately after he crashed into John Tavares. He wasn't prepared for it. Next time he sees Matt Martin on the ice -- he should be. It didn't effect him as he played a team high of 26:36 for the Leafs.

Everyone thought it would be Trevor Gillies doling out the punishment on the ice, but Gillies played an amazingly LOW 1:33 but did manage his first NHL point with an assist. I guess Scott Gordon figured that was the best he could do and kept him on the bench after that.

Good move.