Pens' Cooke banned through the first round of playoffs

DETROIT - Matt Cooke got exactly the kind of harsh punishment Mario Lemieux challenged the NHL to hand out.

The only problem is Cooke plays for the Pittsburgh Penguins, the team owned by the Hockey Hall of Famer.

The oft-penalized Cooke received the stiffest sentence yet in his 12-season NHL career when he was suspended on Monday by the league for the remainder of the regular season and the first round of the playoffs for elbowing defenseman Ryan McDonagh of the New York Rangers in the head one day earlier.