Cherry on D&C: Cooke 'a little rat'

CBC hockey commentator Don Cherry joined the Dennis & Callahan show Tuesday morning to discuss the Matt Cooke suspension, what could happen the next time Zdeno Chara travels to Montreal and the recent slide of the Bruins. 

After a seven-game winning streak that seemed to announce the Bruins as serious Stanley Cup contenders, the club has struggled, posting a 1-3-3 mark in its last seven games. Cherry was asked if the Bruins were built for a deep postseason run.

"There's something wrong there," said Cherry, who coached the Bruins from 1974-79. "Right now, there's something wrong with that team. When they came into Toronto, and they were absolutely awful. But if you're going to take a swoon, this is the time to do it. I would like to see [Shawn] Thornton play. He hasn't played that much since [Chris] Kelly came to Boston. … I would play Thornton a regular shift because he's the Bruins for sure."

The NHL suspended Penguins forward Matt Cooke for the final 10 games of the regular season plus the entire first round of the playoffs on Monday, the fifth suspension in Cooke's 12-year career. Cooke, of course, was not suspended for the elbow to the head of Marc Savard last year, which directly caused what might turn out to be a career-ending concussion for the Bruins center. Cherry feels if Cooke had been properly disciplined for the Savard hit it might have prevented the elbow to Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh that led to Cooke's suspension.

"He should have been tossed for what happened to Savard, but they said they didn't have a rule," Cherry said. "The guy never even got four minutes or anything for that. If he had got [suspended for] 20 games then, maybe he would have been straightened out. He should have been suspended for what he did to Savard and he got his comeuppance. … They should have given him 20-30 games back then and it might have straightened the little rat out."

Chara was not suspended for his March 8 hit of Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty, who suffered a concussion and a non-displaced fracture of cervical vertebrae. This led to outrage throughout Montreal, and Montreal police did open a criminal investigation against Chara. Cherry was asked if the Boston defenseman has reason to be concerned about future trips to Montreal.

"Who's going to arrest him? That's not going to happen. And the Canadiens have really have nobody to do anything to him," Cherry said. "Who would? And if the game is close, nothing is going to happen. He's too big, too strong. … There's no way he did that to that guy [on purpose], he was just taking that guy out. And I really give it to the owners — the Molsons — they didn't have enough padding on that turnbuckle. It should have been padded, the kid would have bounced right off." 

To hear the interview, click on the Dennis & Callahan audio on demand page [1]. For more Bruins news, visit weei.com/bruins [2].