The Islanders' Alexei Yashin scored a hat trick in the first period, and the Rangers were hopelessly behind. That's when the Wednesday Night Fights began. No less than 92 penalty minutes were given out during the second period alone.

I heard a red-white-and-blue-clad fan from the 400 section (formerly known as the blue seats) scream at the start of the second, "Hey Rangers, this game is over, let's just kick some ass now." It was as if this guy was behind the bench, because he got what he asked for.

Ding ding! Round one, NYR's Sandy McCarthy went at it with NYI's Brad Isbister. As the fight wound down, Brad went toward Sandy as he was gesturing to the crowd, which was already going nuts. All of a sudden -- bam! -- Sandy decks Brad again and stuns him; McCarthy throws his fist between two refs and hits nothing but face.

After the game Brad's face didn't look too bad, but the same could not be said for teammate Jim Cummins. In round two, Jim threw down with Dale Purinton. Dale thew about eight quick shots to Jim's face, which was split open and sprayed all over his white jersey. Cummins came back and ended up landing some of his own punches, but Purinton won this bout. Jim's face took several stitches to close up the gash, and was so swollen and black and blue he looked like the kid from Mask. (Let's see, that's 2-0 Rangers in brawls, so far, and 4-0 Isles on the scoreboard, for those of you keeping score.)

The fiercest bout was yet to come. After the whistle blew, Isles RW Mariusz Czerkawski shot the puck at goalie Dan Blackburn and all hell broke loose. Rangers defenseman Thomas Kloucek went after Yashin and ripped the jersey over his head, and was pounding away at a pretty boy who said after the game that this was his first-ever fight. Kloucek must feel good about beating up an all-star who is known for scoring goals and not left hooks.

After the game, with a round nugget on his forehead and three cuts on his right hand, Yashin talked about sticking up for himself and how he didn't want to fight. (Well, that's 172 penalty minutes, three fighting majors per team -- and all three decisions go to the Rangers.)

During Yashin's melee, Islanders enforcer Eric Cairns was in a scrum on the ice and didn't get to see his teammate drop the gloves for the first time. After the game, Cairns said he would get a tape of it, to see how Yashin looked.

Eric knows something about dropping the gloves. He's actually taken boxing lessons. He claims it's a great workout, and helps him on the ice.

The Islanders might have lost the fights, but they left with two points and were all smiles.

E-mail John Broder at john.broder@espnmag.com.