In a nightmare scenario for the Ottawa Senators, Erik Karlsson had to be helped off the ice late in the second period versus the Pittsburgh Penguins after Matt Cooke appeared to step on the back of his leg during a hit along the boards.
It's pretty much never good news when you can hear the player scream chillingly after the collision. Hopefully, for Senators fans, this one is an exception.
It goes without saying that Karlsson is one of Ottawa's most important players. Coming into Wednesday night, he had 6 goals in 13 games, tops among defencemen, and was averaging 27:52 a night, second only to Jack Johnson in Columbus.
Karlsson also leads the NHL in shots on goal with 62. Johnson is second among defencemen in this category at 36. Again: 36.
Ottawa fans are going to have a hard time stomaching this one, either way, but the other guy in the collision just exacerbates the whole thing. Matt Cooke has been involved in so many borderline plays, some of them injurious, that even if he had no intention of hurting Karlsson, his reputation precedes him.
Despite the fact that he's cleaned his game up (not to mention that he's a pest, not the devil) people are going to assume he meant to do it. But that would be unfair. It looked like a freak accident, which is typically what skate cuts -- if that's what this is -- tend to be.
Still, it's going to happen. When it does, keep in mind that blame is a common cognitive distortion often used by people who are panicking, and if you're a Senators fan, that's what you're doing right now.
Follow Harrison Mooney on Twitter at @HarrisonMooney
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