NEW YORK-- Ruslan Fedotenko does not understand why New York Rangers forward Sean Avery attacked him from behind in the Penguins' 8-3 victory Saturday at Mellon Arena.

He just wishes he had gotten an opportunity to defend himself against Avery, who picked up 17 minutes of penalties.

"I didn't even have a chance to bump him, or anything like that, during the game, so whatever happened, I have no clue," Fedotenko said.

"He kind of jumped me from behind. ... I wish he'd given me a heads-up, but that's his kind of game."

He added that the league should take steps to prevent that from happening more often.

"What prevents anybody from jumping a top player and trying to pound him?" he said "Obviously, [New York winger Marian] Gaborik doesn't want to fight, but what's to prevent me from jumping in and trying to take him and myself out of the game? I will [take that] trade.

"That should be prevented. Maybe if you have a suspension or fines, [fewer] things like that will happen."

Defenseman Alex Goligoski, who missed six games because of an unspecified injury before returning to the Penguins' lineup Saturday, apparently aggravated that problem against the Rangers and did not play last night.

Team officials have offered no prognosis, but general manager Ray Shero seems optimistic that Goligoski's absence won't drag on for too long.

"I don't think [it's serious]," he said. "I think he'll be out a little while. Not too long, I don't think.

"It's nothing serious. That's the good news. We'll wait to see how he is, day-to-day and make some decisions based on how he feels."

Left winger Matt Cooke sat out the game last night, the first of two he will miss for hitting Rangers forward Artem Anisimov in the head Saturday.

Yesterday, even though he said he "absolutely" wants to see players protected from blows to the head, Cooke pretty much said that, if the same circumstances arose, he would deliver the hit the way he did Saturday.

"I have to finish my check," he said.

"That's what makes me successful. That's my job. Given the situation again, I have to take the body."

While Cooke clearly disagreed with the league's decision to suspend him, he did not make an issue of it.

"The league made [its] decision," he said. "I live with it.

"It's a hockey play. I made the hit. I didn't think I targeted ... I know I didn't target his head but, unfortunately, the league saw it differently."

Center Sidney Crosby nearly took a wicked cross-check in the back of the head Saturday from Avery, but said he was able to avoid it because "I saw him at the last second."

While Crosby did not say whether he felt the league should have punished Avery for that, he made it clear that he endorses the NHL taking a strong stand against blows to the head.

"They're really cracking down on head shots," he said. "They have to, and they have to do it throughout the league. Everybody has to be held to that standard. It's for the safety of [players].

"We all want to play hard. There's no doubt hitting's a big part of the game, but not to a guy's head all the time."

Crosby was named the NHL's No. 1 star of the week for the seven days ending Sunday. He had eight points in four games in that span.

Penguins Plus, a blog by Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson, is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.