Blake Doesn’t Get Mad, He Gets Even With Battaglia

Rob Blake took his hat off to Carolina’s Bates Battaglia, mainly because early in the second period Saturday afternoon, Battaglia nearly knocked his helmet off.

“You have to respect it,” said Blake, who later in the period squared off with Battaglia, both of them earning five-minute fighting majors.

“It was a good, clean hit, and I didn’t see him coming. I do that sort of thing myself.”

Battaglia, a 25-year-old looking for a reputation, is gaining one with hits like those against Mark Smith of San Jose and Blake. Saturday’s came when Battaglia took off after a line change and made a bee line toward Blake in the neutral zone, knocking Blake flying, turning his helmet around on his head.

“It was as hard as I’ve been hit in a long time,” said Blake, no slouch in the checking department.

“He got hammered,” Coach Andy Murray said. “And then he had a couple of hammers.”

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Defenseman Jere Karalahti was scratched for the second game in a row, something he is having to learn to deal with.

“He said I wasn’t getting to enough loose pucks,” said Karalahti of his conversation with Murray. “It’s hard, but what can I do? It’s not my decision.”