


Paul Bissonnette was in the holiday spirit and wanted to make peace with the Islanders — but one of the team’s icons was just not having it.
During Wednesday’s pregame show on TNT before the Islanders took on the Capitals, Bissonnette, 38, extended a literal olive branch and blue and orange flowers to the Islanders — whom he’s called “boring” the past few years — after he recently slammed the team’s fans for booing ex-captain John Tavares.
But Butch Goring, 74, a fixture on the Stanley Cup teams in the 1980s and a longtime analyst on MSG, did not accept the apology.
On the show, Bissonnette said the Islanders, who entered Wednesday night third in the Metropolitan Division, have turned things around to become more exciting, scoring goals and playing plenty of roller-coaster games.
This came after the former NHLer and current “Spittin’ Chiclets” podcaster said he was “declaring war” on the team for the fans booing Tavares, who scored his 1,000th career point at UBS Arena as a member of the Maple Leafs earlier in December.
Goring had called out Bissonnette, which escalated matters.
So, in the spirit of the holiday, Bissonnette tried to make amends Wednesday.
“You know, I was a little poopy pants, especially when you guys blew John T the other night when he hit 1,000th point,” the former pugilist said. “But, you know, it’s the season of being joyful and I actually have a peace treaty. I’ve called them boring in the past slow, non-electrifying.”
He then called in a person from the production crew to bring out an olive branch and the flowers.
Goring took to X and shot down the peace offering.
“There is not one Islander fan who cares about your feelings or apologies,” he wrote. “A couple of loses by the Isles and you will jump off the bandwagon.”
Bissonnette, who criticized the Islanders and general manager Lou Lamoriello in the offseason, jokingly took some credit for the turnaround.
“I don’t want to take full credit, but I definitely have lit a fire underneath their ass,” he said, while admitting he and the Islanders GM are not on speaking terms and that Goring wants to “pump my eyes shut.”
It’s truly the beef that keeps on giving the whole season.