There. I said it.
The Rangers defeated the Hurricanes 4-2 on Wednesday night, and showed their ass doing it.
The home team did a marvelous job of shutting down the Carolina power play, which has been stagnant lately. They had to kill a full five minute penalty in the second, plus a minute of six-on-three in the final minute of the game. The Rangers PK should get the first star of the game.
Carolina started the game with only 11 forwards and ended the game with only nine. Their power play struggles notwithstanding, this is no way to win hockey games.
Midway through the second period with the score tied at one, Matt Cullen was blasted at center ice by Colton Orr with a marginally late but very violent open ice hit. The puck was still in the vicinity, but Orr had to come from lower Manhattan to deliver the hit. Cullen was knocked out of the game, requiring stitches below his nose. Orr was given a five minute major for interference (a new rule) and a game misconduct. Mike Commodore jumped to Cullen's defense, but the fight was short and uneventful. On the ensuing major power play, Carolina was unable to get anything going, and it was probably the turning point of the game.
Carolina would later take a 2-1 lead on a different power play, but at that point they were down to ten forwards and they weren't looking all that great.
The Rangers exploded for three goals in the first half of the third period, but it wasn't quite out of reach.
With just under six minutes to play, Sean Avery delivered a hard forechecking hit to Glen Wesley into the boards behind Cam Ward. There was a bit of a disturbance first between Avery and Wesley. Then there was a lot of pushing and shoving by all players on both teams. For no reason, Sean Avery went after Trevor Letowski, but nothing came of that. It seemed like cooler heads were prevailing, but Avery chose to also go at Andrew Ladd. This was a mutual thing, except the linesman weren't going to allow it. The whistles were blowing, the linesmen were restraining both players. It should have been over.
Avery took at least two, probably three sucker punch shots at Ladd with the linesman between them. Ladd never threw a punch. Somehow, Ladd was given a
It was of no matter since Carolina couldn't convert the power play anyway, but it might have been different with more time.
Jaromir Jagr had two goals.
Scott Walker scored a shorthanded goal for the Canes. It was their first shorty of the year.
Sean Avery will be a marked man the next time these two teams play. A clean fight is one thing. A marginally clean hit is one thing. Sucker punches are another thing entirely. This will be looked at by the league, and he will receive a short suspension.
I'm too tired and too pissed off to search around for precedence on this kind of thing. One side of me thinks that because he threw punches after the linesmen had stepped in, it'll be multiple games. The realist in me says that it'll be one game.
Orr won't and shouldn't be suspended. Unless he already had a game misconduct in hand.
Above the animosity I'm feeling towards Avery, I'm really concerned about Cully. If he has to miss any time, it'll be a huge blow to this already hurting team.
I've said before that Avery is a guy with a lot of brawn and a bit of talent to go with it. It's a shame that he plays the way he does, agitating and instigating and traipsing around the borders of legal play.
Carolina is off Thursday, and hopefully there will be good news about Matt Cullen.
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15 comments:
I can't even begin to tell you how angry I was after those cheap shots by Avery. What a punk. There's no place for that kind of blatant disrespect for other players in the game.
I just want to know why the linesmen didn't let them fight. Ladd would have wrecked Avery.
This is a joke. What cheap shots by Avery? Ladd would have..... what ??? If he could have beaten Avery, then he should have. He wasn't being held back and he did nothing. As for the hit on Cullen. It was clean but unfortunate. He had just released the puck behind him and got leveled. Some people make a career of hits like that (Scott Stevens). If you check the video you can clearly see that neither of the refs were going to call a penalty until they saw that Cullen was hurt. Why didn't Commodore get an instigator? Get your facts straight. Carolina lost because they had no Offense.
Listen, "anonymous," I'm from New York, I'm a Rangers fan, but I live in NC now so I watch the Hurricanes and go to the games and such.
I can't deny what Sean Avery brings to the team, but I've always hated his personality and his playing style--and this is coming from someone whose two favorite Rangers of all-time are Adam Graves and Esa Tikkanen!
No, the Colton Orr hit should have not been a penalty, let alone a major penalty. Cullen cut to the middle, made a pass, and looked back over his shoulder at the pass. You're going to get run over if you do that.
I am a Ranger fan as well, and I love to finally see some spirit here in NY. Sean Avery is a catalyst and no matter who hates him, many teams would love to have him. I do not condone any cheap shots and I am sure that Avery would have been suspended numerous times if the NHL saw anything worth getting upset about, but the fact is that Avery uses words mostly to get under other players skin. That's it, and he just happens to be able to defend himself with fists as well. He is skilled and frankly, he makes the games fun to watch (if your a Rangers fan). People throw the word goon and Punk around a lot when talking about Avery, but they make no mention of Simon, Bertuzzi, and at least 5 players on Flyers.
In any case this is a blog written by a fan who didn't like the outcome of the game. Avery did nothing crazy except inspire his team and lift the building.
Miserable blog. Please write about facts, not fiction. Avery throw "sucker" punches? Ladd came at him and Avery was held by refs, not Ladd! He will be suspended? What source tells you that? Come on. Whoever writes this blog was just plain angry and couldn't see the facts. Where was the penalty for Commodore jumping Orr? In fact Carolina had huge PowerPlay chances and couldn't capitalize. Blame your team, not Avery. He's done his job. End of story.
1. The hit on Cullen was clean. The puck was right there, Orr didn't leave his feet, and his hands, although chest level, never hit Cullen in the head. Rule 1 in hockey is keep your head up. Cullen should know better.
2. What did Avery do exactly? Ladd dropped the gloves first, and skated at Avery while Avery was being held down. Avery then got in a few shots when both were being held. If Ladd didn't want to get hit, he probably shouldn't have approached Avery with his gloves dropped. Avery is a marked man? By who? Carolina does not have 1 player that scares the Rangers, which is saying something since the Rangers roster is pretty devoid of those players too.
You got screwed on the hand pass, but other than that the terrible officiating benefited Carolina all night, but your boys couldn't finish. Blaming Avery and Orr for that is silly. Next time try showing up for the 3rd.
Oh right, so the video I watched from the Rangers' own feed--where the Rangers announcers were commenting that the linesmen were holding Ladd and had to get Avery out of there--was all a fabrication?
Yeeeeeah. Man, you two clowns sound like Sabres fans.
I'm the first to admit that the 'Canes completely collapsed after Cullen was hurt. Doesn't excuse Avery's cheap shots. He went after Letowski because he knew Gleason would pound him and he only went after Ladd after he knew Ladd was being held by the refs.
Avery is an agitator and he can definitely score points, but first and foremost he is a classless jerk and there is no argument around that.
For all you "anonymous" readers blaming me for not reporting the facts and for just being upset because my team lost....
I clearly stated a couple of times that Carolina wasn't able to convert their power plays. I even went so far as to congratulate the Rangers for doing a "marvelous job of shutting down the Carolina power play"
I also clearly stated that I didn't see much wrong with Orr's hit. I called it "violent". It was absolutely violent. I didn't say "malicious" or "dirty". Consult your dictionary if you don't understand that "violent" means "extremely forceful".
Ladd wanted to fight. That's why he skated over there. That wasn't my point. It was that the linesmen were between them, Ladd was hogtied, and Avery had to overpower the linesman to throw his punches at Ladd. Ladd was bent over and not in a position to either defend himself or to retaliate.
I can understand if you're a first time visitor you might not know this, but I have on numerous occasions called out the various members of the Flyers legion of goon. I have also, on more than one occasion stated that Avery is a good player and that stirring the pot is only one of his qualities. Unfortunately, he stirred the pot a little too hard this time.
I've written probably 20 posts about Chris Simon being a talentless piece of crap and been careful to point out that Avery is a different breed entirely because he has talent. I have called Avery things like "punk" and "jerk" and "asshat", but never "goon", and I've always been careful to point out that he has skill. Once, I even suggested that the Canes might like to have him. Feel free to consult my archives if you don't believe me.
But, you "anonymous" posters probably know more about this blog than I do.
Yeah. I'm the one not getting the facts straight.
You got your points, no doubt but in the same way shouldn't be surprised of negative comments from Rangers fans. Remember, in NYC, Sean Avery is one of the most popular players, everywhere else... most likely opposite.
In my opinion, Avery will eventually wear out his welcome in N.Y. just like he did in L.A. The dude just isn't acting like himself unless he is saying or doing something stupid. His antics will cost them, someday.
Besides the fact that Ladd was running free at first while Avery was the only one being held by a linesman, they didn't get game misconducts, they got 10-minute misconducts. I'm not sure where you think Avery should get an extra five minutes, maybe an extra two. Also, Avery didn't get a penalty for instigating, he had the original penalty for "interference" on Wesley's stick.
The Commodore fight was "uneventful" in your opinion because Orr won. Where was the instigator for Commodore? I'm glad you think Orr shouldn't be suspended because it was a clean hit.
Sean Avery will be a marked man next time he plays in Toronto on Saturday, forget the next time he plays the Canes.
This blog was linked on the Rangers board I read, so I thought I should read the rediculousness and let you know the "facts."
spiderpig,
Thanks for being man enough to put a name to your comment.
You're partially right about the misconduct penalties. Ladd got a 10 minute misconduct. Avery got a 10 minute misconduct AND a game misconduct.
There's a "fact" back at you.
And Ladd was not "running free" when Avery punched him. Unless you call being in a full nelson hold by the linesman "running free".
You're also right that I was talking out of my ass when I said it should have been a five minute penalty. Two two minute penalties, maybe, but I don't know where I got "five".
And yes, I got it wrong about calling it instigating. I wrote the post before I looked at the official recap. I made a few mistakes, but it doesn't change the fact that what Avery did was wrong.
For future reference, the word you're looking for starts with ri-, not re-.
Thanks for the "facts". I didn't in any way mean to suggest that Avery was only going to be marked by the Canes. Just that he'll be marked next time the two teams play. Of course the joke is that Carolina doesn't have anybody who can do anything about it, but they might try anyway.
I understand you were writing in the heat of the moment; good response. I didn't hear that Avery got a game misconduct also. I was talking about the first punch when there was only a linesman on Avery, not on Ladd. Ladd was the one who had the chance to get close enough for Avery to punch him, and had his gloves down already. Avery definitely did get a few nice cheap shots in there when the second linesman came in, though.
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