Dallas Stars forward Jamie Benn delivered an elbow to the head of Minnesota’s Matt Cooke during the Wild’s 3-2 overtime victory on Saturday.
There was no penalty on the play, much to Cooke’s dismay. You can see the incident below:
Given that Cooke is the victim, some people will allow that to color their judgement.
Cooke does have a lengthy suspension history and while he hasn’t gotten in trouble nearly as often in recent years, he’s still been the center of some controversies. It was less than a year ago that Cooke was being attacked by accusations that he deliberately cut Ottawa defenseman Erik Karlsson’s Achilles tendon with his skate.
A hit to the head is still a hit to the head though, regardless of who is on the receiving end of it and even though Benn hasn’t been punished for his actions yet, he still might be.