Cooke has the right recipe

Early in Sunday’s game, Boyd Gordon was railroaded into the boards by Pittsburgh Penguins pest Jarkko Ruutu.

Seconds later, new Washington Capitals forward Matt Cooke wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to administer some neutral zone justice.

Cooke plowed Ruutu, who objected, and the two had to be separated.

That play is the reason the Caps acquired Cooke from the Vancouver Canucks at the trade deadline. He’s a pain in the derriere.

“He looks like somebody opposing fans would just hate, and that’s the way he plays,” Caps forward Brooks Laich said after the Penguins’ 4-2 win. “But he can put the puck in the net and make good passes. He can do both things for us.”

Since coming from the Vancouver Canucks, Cooke has three points in five games and is playing about 10 minutes a night. Against the Penguins, he tied for a team high with six hits, and his 168 hits rank among the NHL’s top 15 players.

Cooke isn’t a brawler (two fights this year), making him a player who is adept at being an annoyance without committing several penalties.

“I’m not a guy that will stick somebody in the back of the legs or yap a lot, but I am a guy that will play hard against you whether you’re Sidney Crosby or Jarkko Ruutu,” Cooke said. “No one is omitted from me hitting them. It’s not like I went looking for [Ruutu], but the opportunity was there, and I was obviously going to put as much into it as I could.”

Cooke’s transition to the Caps has appeared seamless, but he said Bruce Boudreau’s system is completely different than that of Canucks coach Alain Vigneault.

“Bruce is about getting up ice and taking away as much space as you can and raise as much havoc in their half of the ice as possible,” Cooke said. “In Vancouver, we fore-checked one guy and then sat back, waiting for them to come to you and then trap them.

“There was more of a read to be made [in Vancouver’s system] as to when you can go and when you can’t go. Here, there’s no in-between. You go.”

That philosophy would seem to fit Cooke, who has eight goals this season.

“He’s fit right in,” Laich said. “We knew his game by watching him on TV — he’s a skater and a fore-checker that likes to play in-your-face hockey. And that’s how Bruce likes to play. We want him to use his speed.”

Cooke, 29, spent parts of nine seasons with Vancouver, appearing in 566 games and totaling 83 goals, 120 assists and 625 penalty minutes. But management’s silence during the season was telling — an unrestricted free agent at year’s end, Cooke said he hadn’t been approached about a new deal.

The trade and the fact he’s essentially on a 16-game audition for the Caps has given Cooke a jolt of energy.

“For sure, it absolutely has,” he said. “You get into a situation now [in which] here you have to prove yourself again, and that’s healthy. I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

Being in one place for so long, Cooke added, “You get comfortable, and you get used to a situation, and everything is easy — the kids are in school, you have your friends and it’s like a second home because you do have roots down. Moving forward, it’s probably the one thing I would change, not to take anything for granted.”

Moving forward, the Caps’ challenge starting tomorrow night against Calgary is salvaging the season. Crushing regulation defeats to Boston and Pittsburgh left Washington seven points behind Southeast Division leader Carolina and six points back of the eighth-seeded Philadelphia Flyers with 12 games remaining.

Cooke has 12 points in 32 career postseason games.

“Guys don’t realize how much the playoffs are and [Sunday’s game] was as close as you’re going to get to that with the atmosphere and intensity,” he said. “I think we can maybe take a lesson from Pittsburgh and see how some of their top guys kept it simple.”