Getting payback in the NHL for being wronged can happen in so many ways. For Boston fans that felt they were wronged by Penguins irritating forward Matt Cooke after his brutal blow to the head of Bruins star Marc Savard, their wont to have Cooke see justice was never truly fulfilled for them and the Bruins were left to stew and be angry about the situation.
Cooke wasn’t suspended for the hit on Savard and when the Penguins and Bruins met later that season, the Bruins not only didn’t get revenge on ice for the hit but they were also humiliated losing the game. This is where Atlanta’s Evander Kane became an accidental cult hero in Boston.
Kane’s one-punch knockout of Cooke in a fight in the final game of the season for the Thrashers became an instant hit in Boston with not just the fans but also with Bruins players. NESN’s Douglas Flynn hears Kane’s side of the story.“I know when it happened, I got a couple phone calls from the guys,” said Kane after Thursday’s morning skate. “I know it got a lot of buzz throughout the league. It just so happened to be Matt Cooke, who did that to Marc Savard earlier on in the year. I wasn’t really looking for payback for that. It was more for myself and for my team, but I guess it worked out.”
Kane’s KO of Cooke was especially gratifying for Savard’s longtime linemate Milan Lucic.
“I know Milan Lucic pretty well, I played in junior with him [with the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League in 2006-07],” said Kane. “So he sent me a text, told me what was going on in Boston. It was a fun time. Like I said, that definitely wasn’t in my mind at all, but I know it got a lot of attention and was a pretty big story.”
Boston fans rallied around video Kane’s KO like they do the replays of the Carlton Fisk home run and Bobby Orr’s magical goal against the Blues. If Kane isn’t given the warmest greeting a visiting player has ever seen in the Garden tonight we’ll be stunned. Anyone booing Kane should probably get the same kind of treatment “Waffle Man” has in Toronto.
Still, it’s weird to have a situation like this and to have it all happen purely out of coincidence. Kane was trying to fire up his team and just so happened to have karma as his corner man going into that scrap. It’s either that or just being named after the former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield really carries a lot of gravitas going into a fight.