BOSTON - It took less than two minutes for them to get what they wanted, a measure of retribution.
It won’t make their best forward come back any faster or make his life, spent mostly in a darkened room, any more pleasant.
But the Boston Bruins and their fans got a measure of satisfaction, I suppose, when B’s enforcer Shawn Thornton punched Pittsburgh Penguins winger Matt Cooke to the ice a minute and 58 seconds into the game Thursday night at TD Garden.
It was the anticipated payback for Cooke knocking out Bruins star forward Marc Savard with a blatant elbow to an unsuspecting Savard’s head March 7. Savard suffered a Grade 2 concussion and is expected to be out for the rest of the season, but Cooke was not penalized on the play or suspended for the hit, deemed legal under existing rules.
Cooke woke up Thursday morning to find his smirking face on the front page of the local tabloid in the middle of a poster which said, “WANTED...at least one Bruin willing to teach this bum a lesson.”
Thornton appeared anxious to be that Bruin.
His frustration with the situation was palpable after the morning skate as he was swarmed at his stall, sparring with the media over how, why and why didn’t the Bruins avenge the Cooke hit on the spot?
“I’ll be happy when this (bleeping) game is over,” muttered Thornton as the media horde dispersed.
Cooke was anxious for the same thing, according to Penguins insiders.
He gave up three inches and 12 pounds to Thornton and got in a good first punch before going down under a bunch of rights from Thornton, who continued to throw even after the linesmen arrived, and was assessed a 10-minute misconduct for doing so.
So much for “The Code.”
After that, the teams stuck to hockey, which was an unfortunate turn for the Bruins who lost 3-0.
They managed but 10 shots through 50 minutes and, down 3-0, none in the third until the 9:17 mark.
If nothing else, the Cooke episode served as a distraction from how poor the B’s are these days.
So, it appears the episode is closed, though the bigger issue of hits like Cooke’s remains on the NHL’s front burner.
The NHL has been trying to railroad through a new rule making hits like that illegal and subject to suspension, but it doesn’t sound like it’s going to happen until next season.
NHL executive vice-president of hockey operations Colin Campbell, who was at the game Thursday night, found time earlier in the day to hand out an eight-game suspension to Anaheim Ducks forward James Wisniewski for his leaping, high hit on Chicago Blackhawks defenceman Brent Seabrook Wednesday night.
The severity of that suspension indicates the league is turning the screws on perpetrators of headshots, but there’s still nothing to address hits like Cooke’s on Savard.
“They’re supposed to protect us,” said Bruins centre David Krejci of the league. “This is supposed to be the best league in the world. Everyone knows how dirty a player Cooke is.”
The cheers of the crowd were replaced by boos early in the second as the Penguins dominated the Bruins, pinning them in their own zone for the better part of four minutes.
The fans and the B’s got their revenge on Cooke, for what it was, but that’s about it.
This morning they are still without Savard and their grip on the final playoff spot is helped only by the ineptitude of their closest rival, the New York Rangers, who they play Sunday.
In the third period, it sounded like a group fans up near the rafters were shouting, “We want blood.”
With the way their team was playing, it’s not sure if they wanted Cooke’s or some of the Bruins.'
