«I regret that it happened but I am adamant that I'm not sure, at that game speed, what I could have done different.
» Niskanen said after the game of striking his former captain. «Obviously in super-slow-mo and in hindsight, I wish I had one hand on my stick and my hands were way down but the collision happened fast.»
However, many Penguins players and fans did not believe Niskanen's explanation. Ian Cole, then-Penguin, expressed a desire for vengeance and said he wanted a "pound of flesh" from Niskanen.
Reddit user CoyoteBlack666, a Penguins supporter, went to extraordinary lengths to express his rage, getting the term F*ck Matt Niskanen tattooed on his calf.
«It takes me pretty much zero time to make most decisions, it's worked out so far,» CoyoteBlack666 wrote on twitter.
