Saturday night’s game was the first appearance by Sean Avery since he was injured on a hard hit by Ottawa Senator’s defenseman Chris Neil on October 6.

Without Avery in the lineup the Rangers looked very similar to the same passive team they had early last season, not able to protect finesse players like Scott Gomez and Jaromir Jagr. With Avery back in the lineup things are different.

During the second period of last night’s game Devil’s defenseman Vitaly Vishnevski landed a big hit along the boards on Gomez and it wasn’t long before Avery came down on Vishnevski in retaliation. Colton Orr followed the feisty winger’s lead later in the game when he fought Michael Rupp who came in to break up the quarrel, and the message was clear that when you mess with Rangers skaters now there will be consequences - an ingredient that’s been absent in the season’s opening weeks.

In fact even before that play came close to materializing the Devils were well aware of Avery. Before the game started the scrapper was jawing with winger David Clarkson. The confrontation ended shortly after Avery pointed his stick towards Clarkson in what was simply an intimidation attempt.

Ranger’s coach Tom Renney was glad to have his winger back in action. “His energy, his enthusiasm. I think he’s got a skill level that’s been under appreciated.” Renney continued to discuss with the NY Daily News, “He’s got a nose for the net and plays the tough areas with a vigor that you like. We haven’t had that in a consistent manner throughout our lineup. And I think he helps elevate that in others.”

Rob Abruzzese’s articles can also be read @ Hot Stove NY.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 4th, 2007 at 11:56 pm and is filed under Blogroll. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.