Coach: Green's A 'Gutless Puke'

New York coach Mike Milbury had a few choice words for former Islanders center Travis Green.

"Gutless puke" among them.

Angered by the way Green, now with Anaheim, slammed New York defenseman Kenny Jonsson into the glass, Milbury verbally slammed Green.

"He took advantage of somebody who was on the ropes. There's no question it was from behind and against the glass," said Milbury, never one to mince words. "He's a gutless puke, that's what Travis Green is. That's why he doesn't wear an Islander uniform any more. And he gets paid way too much, but that's my fault."

"I don't know what day they come into Long Island, or what year, but it'll be interesting."

The Ducks are at the Islanders on April 3.

Jonsson, in his fourth game back after missing eight of nine with a concussion, sustained another head injury as a result of Green's hit, and was helped off the ice in the first period of Friday night's 2-2 tie with the Mighty Ducks.

An Islanders team doctor said he could not immediately determine whether Jonsson sustained another concussion.

Green didn't seem particularly bothered by his former coach's caustic comments.

"Oh, Mike. some things never change. He knows everything. Maybe he's right," Green said sarcastically. "Nothing surprises me at all that that guy says. I've seen it all and I know everyone else has. I'll just leave it at that."

"I'm not going to dip down to Mike's level."

Green wasn't the only one to draw Milbury's ire; referee Brad Watson also took some hits.

"I'm still flabbergasted that at the very least it wasnt a boarding call," Milbury said of the no-call on Green. "The referee lost control of the game. (Sergei) Nemchinov got a one-handed whack right across the knee. He wasn't really hurt, but it was clearly in a vulnerable area."

In a rowdy first period marked by a series of fights and 62 penalty minutes, Jonsson, Nemchinov and Anaheim defenseman Jason Marshall all went off with injuries. Nemchinov was the only one to return.

Jonsson was hurt with 11/2 minutes left in the period. Five minutes earlier, Nemchinov left with a bruised knee after the Ducks' Jim McKenzie slashed him from behind, with no penalty called. Marshall went out with a pulled left hamstring after Claude Lapointe rode him into the boards a minute after the opening faceoff.

A melee broke out seconds after Jonsson went down, with the Islanders' Joe Sacco, playing against his former Anaheim teammates for the first time, and the Ducks' Jamie Pushor drawing game misconduct penalties.

Things settled down afterward, with only four more penalties the rest of the way.

New York's Mariusz Czerkawski evened it at 2-2 with 9:38 remaining in regulation as the Islanders skated to their first tie of the season. Tommy Salo made 39 saves for New York, including stopping a point-blank shot by Teemu Selanne midway through the overtime.

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