The Capitals embarrassed the Penguins at Verizon on Sunday, shutting them out 3-0. Pittsburgh’s forward Matt Cooke gave Alex Ovechkin a knee-on-knee cheap shot in the third period. Ovie jumped up after taking the hit and punched Cooke in the face. When asked about the hit after the game, Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau wasn’t surprised by Cooke’s cheap shot saying “it’s not like it’s his first rodeo.” WashingtonPost.com’s Katie Carrera talked to Boudreau after the game.
“It was Matt Cooke. Need we say more? It’s not like it’s his first rodeo,” Boudreau said. “He’s done it to everybody and then he goes to the ref and says: ‘What did I do?’ He knows damn well what he did. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s good at it and he knows how to do it. He knows how to pick this stuff. We as a league, we still buy into this [idea] that, ‘Oh it was an accidental thing.'”
Cooke told the media they just “clipped skates.” You can make the call in the video above.
Additionally, Matt Bradley said that Cooke had the option to drop the gloves and fight, but that he chose to go to the bench instead.
Embarrassed? Hardy, Mr. Hockey. They beat a depleted Pens team in a close game.
Yeah Bill embarrassed. Even at full strength they "embarrassed" the Penguins in front of 70,000 fans and a national audience in the Winter Classic. Did you forget?
Oh, is that what we're talking about, Matt? Man, you're even dumber than you look. I thought we were talking about yesterday's game. You Caps fans are so desperate for some marker of success that the Winter Classic is your measuring stick. You're pathetic, Matty boy. Talk to me when you win something worth more than a 2 pt regular season game. Oh, and tell your coach to wipe the pizza sauce off his fat face before he's interviewed for national television.
I'm Zach, Henry. This post is about yesterday's game. I was talking about beating the Pens at full strength, which the Caps did in the Steel City during the Winter Classic. Sorry I realize keeping two games straight is probably a bit confusing for you, Jonathan.
Well, sorry Zach, you should be flattered, I actually confused you with a real writer.
2-0 with a min and a half to play doesn't qualify as embarrassed you dolt. You keep on dreaming though, maybe some day before you die the Caps will actually win something.
Hah. Ok. Then when the Caps win the Cup I'll use it in arguments forever like Pittsburgh fans do. You're living in the past man. This is 2011.
Oh, and eat something, you look like an Ethiopian refugee.
Bill V., you sure are hung up on men's looks, aren't you?
Caps coach and his "fat face" and implying Zach needs to eat, more.
Hey, in this day and age, nothing wrong with looking at men and making judgements.
Not my cup of tea, but to each his own!
Bill is probably living in Baltimore too.
Zach and Sadler go easy on Will T. He and other Stooler fans obviously had a traumatic weekend, which has spilled over into Monday, making them incapable of stringing together any semblance of logic. In fact, I wonder if Phil C. is the same called who called Steve Czaben this morning and insisted that the pass to Mike Wallace that ended the Steelers hopes of a comeback should not have been ruled an interception. Citing that the ball clearly hit the ground. Or he called into the Dan Patrick show and claimed that Jerome Bettis, from Detroit, should have been in the hall of fame before Deion Sanders.
Sadler,
The Y'ins are pissed today and taking it out on everybody.
Stillers got it handed to them and Penguins can't beat the Caps in two straight National TV games.
At least they still have those heart attack on a roll Primanti sandwiches and that "great" Iron City Beer.
Bill V. seems to have gone to judging men, I guess because after looking at 300+ pound Pittsburgh women for all those years, it turns you to the other side.
Wait a second bucco, I do NOT weigh 300+ and lived in Pittsburgh all of my life. BTW, seems you forgot about Ovies hit on Gonchar, tell me that knee on knee was "clipped skates"
FS74…I'm sure there are many swelt women in Pittsburgh, just not in Billy V's neck of the woods. I'm guessing by his poor use of the English language, that he's a rather uneducated fella. Probably raised in the projects eating macaroni and cheese, Oodles of Noodles, and the like. Funny, that generally with poverty in our country, comes obesity. It's an interesting paradox. So, Billy is probably surrounded by obesse women, which is what turned him to looking at men.
No offense to those of you outside of Billy's projects. I generalized only to make my point.
No offense taken. I was just amazed that he forgot the cheap shot that OV took on Gonchar. And I am not much of a football fan, except for Bradshaw and Co. way back when, so yesterday's loss meant nothing to me.
I know Billy, he is not from the projects. Just the snow belt right now.
Lemme steer you back to the subject at hand. Caps=Never won a meaning hockey game….EVER! How many game 7s has this loser franchise lost? It's mind boggling.
Sorry Zach, I live in Boston. You know, like neutral location. Not Pens land, not Caps land.
I'm hung up on weight MGW, learn reading.
"learn reading".
LEARN GRAMMAR.
MGW, the Caps have never won a "meaning hockey game."
…And Bill V. never attended an English class.
Way to skirt the issue. So, I inadvertent left off the 'ful', you two dolts knew exactly what I meant.
Caps=loser franchise. Please tell me all about the President's trophy. Did you guys parade it all over D.C.?
Sir, You are the one who steered this discussion off course with your physical judegments of two men – the blogger and the Caps coach.
If we want to get back to the subject of this particular blog, it was about the scuffle on the ice and the Penguins second straight National TV loss to the Caps.
But you took it down another path. Again, I say, your lifestyle is your business. I am a 21st century man and understand that there are many persuasions that I may or may not agree with, but perhaps we should just stick to sports on this blog.
I discussed the game, or games. The Caps have beaten the Pens in two straight big games, one in front of 70,000 fans in Pittsbugh. You are the one that decides to talk about two years ago. Keep holding on to that while the Caps continue to beat you in any arena. Even the disgusting Heinz Field.
Bill V – Look, don't mind the people on here just because they're saying you're the perfect idiot. Your not perfect Hoss but you're doing alright… BTW, did you eat paint chips when you were a kid?
Bill V, can I call you "Circus Boy" since your throwing around names like you throw around dollar bills at the "Pink Hippo"… and stop hanging out at the prisons asking the guards if you can have conjugal visits with the inmates. Dressing up as a transvestite will not stop you from being a loser…
Do some work Bill!
Why do you think he lives in Boston?
Billy-V, and no, "teabagging" is not a sport…
Billy-V, your hung up on weight? I'm a big dude, you like me and my weight? Or you like the thin sensitive type?
I didn't go off course MGW, Zach the emaciated did. He's the one the brought up the ever-so-important Winter Classic. I just reminded him of it's relative importance in the stellar history of the Caps franchise.
Gimme a break. It's only not important when you lose in it. You'd be here trolling like you are now if the Caps lost the classic. Just keep hanging on to that Cup from two years ago.
Ooh, ouch Ravens2488, that one stung. 😀
Oh, and MGW, what's a judegments?
I guess I was nervous when I responded.
I don't have many interactions with those of your persuasion.
Please forgive me!
Not to mention the fact that Semin and Fehr didn't play in this game either.
Semin! Now that's a tough guy. You guys have a copy of him doing the bitch slap? That was awesome!
High stick to the face for Knuble, Cooke with a knee to knee that should've been a suspension and a garbage goalie interference call. All of that and the Caps still won 3-0. Keep hanging on to that Stanley Cup though.
Why do you want a video of the "bitch slap"?!?
Oh, I remember now!
Billy-V, I'd watch talking about Zach and as you say his "frail looks". The guy has 16 inch pythons. He's a beast at the gym.
But do us a favor, you see Zach and my pic, send us one of you… Sans clown makeup…
It's been fun boys, you keep that dream alive!
Come and see us again, when the Pens declare bankruptcy for a third time.
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Bill V is feeling the same way Cooke felt.
<img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5018/5425118731_b65c5e7eba.jpg" width="500" height="341" alt="ovechkin-cooke" />
Bye, bye, Bill V.
If you like, you can bring some of your friends back with you. Despite our differences in lifestyle, as I said, I'm a Renaissance Man. I refuse to make judgements based on lifestyle choices, so you are always welcome back!!!
There's a lot of hate going on between Washington and Pittsburgh fans here. That's expected. Even though Washington changed divisions, there's still a rivalry there.
However, let's look at the incident objectively. It was a penalty. At the very least, tripping, and in reality it was worse than just a trip. Knee contact is very dangerous. Maybe a fine or a game suspension would be appropriate.
With that said, it's hypocritical for Capitals fans to bash Cooke for this hit. For anyone with any sort of long term memory, this incident should remind you of the knee-to-knee contact that Ovechkin instigated with Sergei Gonchar (then with the Penguins) a couple years ago. The play was almost identical. I don't recall Ovechkin getting suspended for that hit which actually ended much worse — Gonchar missed a lot of the season due to a knee injury from the hit. I also don't remember Capital fans criticizing Ovie for the hit. In fact, I remember most of them defending him claiming it was an accident. And I know a lot of Caps fans having grown up in the DC area. The similarities of the two plays are uncanny. It doesn't look like either Cooke or Ovechkin were intentionally trying to injure anyone. It looked like they tried a cheap shot at making some contact to initiate some forechecking. Both cases were illegal and deserved some sort of penalty with at least a fine. To claim otherwise (for either incident) is being a homer for your team.
Best comment thread ever.
Why do even bother writing a Caps article twice a month? Why not just throw up an open thread and let Zach and a Pittsburgh fan go at it? Infinitely more entertaining.
No more than Ovie's on Gonchar.
Neither player intended to injure anyone. In both cases, they were failed checks. They approached the opposing player with the intention to hit 'em. When the opposing player side-steps to avoid the hit, Ovie ('coupla years ago) and Cooke (this year) missed the check and then reacted too slowly and couldn't get their body in front of the opponent. Instead, they just got their leg out which is the only part that makes real contact. Ovechkin (and the caps) are just fortunate that he didn't suffer the injury that Sergei did, which would have knocked him out of action for a few weeks.
Both players received minor penalties. If the league wants to be consistent, they'll leave it at that with no additional penalty (just how they handled the Ovechkin incident before).
I'll repeat: if you're gonna condemn one player and condone the other, you're being unreasonable and quite frankly, you're being a blind homer.
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very difficult to acurately intentionally hit knee to knee….good attempt to take out your player…perhaps a big hipe due to it being ovechkin….sure ovechkin feels the same way.
Ovechkin's knee hurts SOOOO bad…funny how he can go and "try" and fight and start a big scrum…what a piece of …. you know what
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