from Don Brennan of the Ottawa Sun,

But despite his pleas of innocence afterwards, Cooke has twice been suspended for hits to the head, and he did end the career of Boston Bruins centre (and Orleans native) Marc Savard. He has said he's changed his ways, but not everybody is convinced. In fact, most still see him as one of the sneakiest and dirtiest players in the league -- and some saw the Karlsson incident as just another example.

At the same time, he's only settled scores like a man 20 times in his 14-year career, according to hockeyfights.com, and never has he dropped the gloves with a Senator. Chris Neil tried to square off with him later in that Feb. 13 game, but the 5-foot-11, 205-pounder wanted no part of that.

Surely, he won't fight Neil or Matt Kassian or Jared Cowen on Monday, either. But maybe he'd accept a challenge from the 6-foot-2, 212-lb. Smith?

The thing is, as much as fans want retribution, the Senators need the two points more. They can't afford to take a penalty that would leave them at a man disadvantage against the league's second-ranked power play, even if it's missing the injured Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, James Neal and Kris Letang, who's reportedly fighting an illness.

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