March 16, 2009, Philadelphia Flyers-New York Rangers game story for Metro
Avery's official arrival
Rangers' agitator scores 2 PP goals in 4-1 win over Flyers
NHL.
The love cascaded down, surrounding Sean Avery.
The Rangers' right wing had just finished his fist-pumping celebration, seconds after scoring his second goal in the Rangers’ 4-1 win over the Flyers at the Garden yesterday afternoon. He was encircled by perhaps the only players in the league that can stomach him while his name was chanted by 18,200 who love him.
“Every time I get to walk through the Garden, it was something that was almost gone from me, so I am grateful for that. I think everyone that plays for this team has that feeling,” Avery said following his two-goal, five hit performance.
The Rangers also got goals from Nik Antropov and Fredrik Sjostrom. Combined with Pittsburgh’s 6-4 win over Boston, the Rangers are now tied with the Canadiens for sixth in the East. The Rangers travel to Montreal tomorrow for a game chocked full of playoff implications.
“We are a good team. We have a lot of guys that play hard," Avery said. "We got one of the best goalies in the world. We just have to believe that and I think that is the most important part.”
Less than 24 hours after a middling effort in Philadelphia, the Rangers came out flying against the Flyers. The Blueshirts outshot Philly 39-25 while making sure to keep a man high in the offensive zone to guarantee that there would be a skater to get back and slow down the league’s seventh-best offense.
It was not a game where skill carried the day. No, this was a mean game. The type of game that teams play in late April and May.
In the week leading up to Sunday’s match, the professional wrestling-ization of the game was in full effect. The league’s broadcast partner advertised the match as Avery leading the “desperate” and “drastic” Rangers against the Flyers. Apparently, a legendary rivalry against organizations attempting to jockey for playoff position that boast two of the best players in the game at their respective positions are not selling points for the league and NBC. No, the NHL and its TV partners needs the villainious Avery at his best, just as long as he refrains from offering Neanderthal comments about former girlfriends in front of TV cameras.
To paraphrase the catchphrase from Gary Bettman’s former employer, the Commissioner desperately wants the NHL to be Fan-tastic. So, Bettman could not have been pleased that the league’s Sunday showcase saw Dan Girardi rack up 17 penalty minutes in a first period fight with Mike Richards, or with Philly defenseman Braydon Coburn’s stick work at the end of the second.
Midway through the first period, Girardi fought Richards in the corner. Richards had knocked down Nik Zherdev, who was fairly invisible in 15:48. Girardi instantly turned towards the Flyers captain and dropped the gloves. Girardi was accessed five minutes for fighting, two for instigating and a 10 minute misconduct.
It would be quite cynical to suggest that referees Mike Leggo and Justin St. Pierre may have felt pressured to not use their discretion in handing down penalties, following last week’s general manager’s meeting where the topic du jour was fighting.
During the meetings, the GMs determined that staged fights must be eliminated from the game. And while it’s noble for the league to eliminate staged fights, there was nothing staged about the Girardi-Richards bout. It was the fight that came about during the course of the game.
“I have no idea. I don’t,” said John Tortorella after being asked if the games are going to be called differently following the GM meetings. “You’ll have to ask Stevie Walkom and Colie (Colin Campbell) and those guys how they’re going to go about it. I have no idea.
“They want to call more instigators. They don’t want these planned fights and stuff like that. So I’m sure that there’s a point of emphasis that’s thrown around the league after these meetings are done. But I really don’t care. I’m more concerned with the hockey club than how games are going to be called.”
With the Rangers leading 2-1 with 43 seconds remaining in the second, it was Philly’s turn to be upset with the officiating. Coburn and Antropov were engaged along the boards while headed up ice. Coburn’s stick came up and clipped Antropov in the face, who went down in a heap. The Flyers defenseman was given a five minute major for high sticking and a match penalty.
Antropov said that he and Coburn do not have a history and there was nothing out of the ordinary about their battle along the boards. Coburn pleaded self-defense.
"It was retaliation. I was kind of protecting myself," said Colbrun. "I thought he was going to come at me again. It's unfortunate. Obviously it's a penalty, but it was unfortunate that I got thrown out of the game.
“We had another shove there. He started kind of skating towards me and I put my
stick out to kind of protect myself. It looked like he was going to try and come at me and he kind of came at me and turned at the last minute. I just kind of reacted and kind of got him in the neck there.”
At 2:45 into the third, Avery’s second power-play goal increased the Rangers’ lead to 3-1. Philly defenseman Ryan Parent and goaltender Antero Nittymaki were concerned with Scott Gomez and Markus Naslund, forgetting about Avery. No. 16 snuck in the back door and tapped Gomez’s rebound into a half-empty net.
“I was just trying to slow it down and think about the plays and where they are going to end up and try to anticipate it. I played with Gomer (Scott Gomez) a lot (last season). I know his tendencies and where he is going to go with it,” said Avery. “He played a great game. Nazzy (Markus Naslund) was great on the power play, too, and that certainly helps.”
The Rangers and Flyers finish the season with a home-and-home April 9 and 12.
posted by Denis P. Gorman at 9:32 AM
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