It's the worst sight any non-Ranger fan can lay eyes on.Sean Avery throwing his patented "celly" to the Garden faithful, both hands pumping to the sky, a slight grin on that face that oh so many players would love to throw a fist into.
But for Rangers fans, the above picture is Picasso-esque.
Coming off of a healthy scratch the game before, Avery brought one of his best games of the season to the Garden ice on Sunday, scoring two goals, drawing three penalties, taking one penalty, and bringing a whole bunch of nasty to the table against the Flyers.
And for that, kudos to John Tortorella.
Without Avery in the lineup, the Rangers came storming out of the gate against the Thrashers on Friday - it was a must win for the Rangers, and they sure played like it. They worked their tails off, drew some Atlanta penalties early, and capitalized.
On Sunday, Tortorella got just what he wanted from Avery, along with another excellent performance from the team as a whole. The Olympics did wonders for the confidence of Chris Drury, who picked up four assists on the weekend while continuing his great play defensively, both at even strength and on the penalty kill. The Rangers Captain has found his groove playing on the right wing, and has seemed to gain back some of his "mojo" playing the front of the net on the Rangers' top power play unit.
Wade Redden - yes, that bum - played arguably his two best games of the season. Redden is a plus seven over his last nine games, and was able to eliminate any "five star" mistakes from his game this weekend.
The Rangers are getting contributions up and down the lineup, have seemed to find the right line combinations, and have seen their agitator get back to his agitating ways. If the Rangers can carry this momentum forward - including their big game tonight against the Canadiens - they can become a formidable opponent down the stretch. It's also worth noting that the eighth place Bruins will be without their top offensive player, Marc Savard, for the season, and have also lost their last two contests.
I don't want to get my hopes up (let's be honest, would anybody be surprised if the Rangers laid an egg tonight versus Montreal?), but this weekend was very, very encouraging for the Broadway Blueshirts...
I've been critical of Colin Campbell a lot over the past. So have everyone else, media, teams, and fans, alike.
But of late, I have to admit I've grown a little sympathetic to the guy. Let's start with the Matt Cooke hit. Simply put, the hit was not a suspendable offense under the current NHL rules. The hit was dirty, malicious, and we all know what Cooke was after, but it was a shoulder check to a player that didn't break any rules. And yet, seemingly every member of the media is calling for a suspension. Some have had said they should've suspended Cooke under "intent to injury," while others have made up various other reasons to suspend the Pittsburgh agitator.
The Cooke hit was a black-eye for hockey (wish I had a dime every time I said "black-eye for hockey"), but the bottom line is it was within the rules, precedent had been set (Mike Richards on David Booth), and there were zero grounds for suspension.
And yet, the ridicule still poured in.
I can understand the animosity towards Cooke - I'm not a Bruins fan and I still wanted to hop through my television set and jump the little scumbag - but you can't suspend a player who doesn't break any rules.
Things got worse this weekend. Alex Ovechkin absolutely rocked Brian Campbell, sending him to the infirmary, and now word is out that he is done for the season with a broken collarbone and broken ribs. Everyone has an opinion, and funny thing, they are all different! Mike Milbury and Pierre McGuire thought the hit didn't warrant a game misconduct. Over on TSN, Matthew Barnaby and Bob McKenzie were happy with the two game suspension handed out. Darren Dreger wanted three or four games.
So here's the situation Colin Campbell faces. Arguably your most marketable player just got ejected from a game. Many in the media are condemning the hit, labeling Ovechkin as dirty, wreckless, and a player in need of a lesson. Others maintain that the hit wasn't that bad, and was a result of Campbell turning weirdly and Ovechkin just being ridiculously strong. He's already been suspended once this season, but because half a season passed (41 games) since, he's no longer listed as a "repeat offender." And to make matters worse, the player Ovechkin hit looks to be done for at least the regular season. Plus, you just suspended a player (Maxim Lapierre) four games for a hit that many people find eerily similar, despite the fact that they definitely aren't.
It's a no win situation. Any decision Campbell makes is going to piss off people who already hate your guts (not that this previous malcontent isn't at least some what...err, very...warranted).
I saw the hit live. I've watched it at least 15 times since. I still cannot make up my mind whether the hit was suspendable or not. Live, I said no chance, that Campbell knew he was there and just maneuvered weirdly, and that Ovechkin shouldn't be punished for being ridiculously strong. On the other hand, it does seem to be from the back, and it was fairly reckless by Ovechkin to finish his hit with Campbell in that position.
Talk about shades of gray.
But, my sympathy for Colin Campbell came and went after hearing that Steve Downie wouldn't be suspended for his leg-lock takedown of Sidney Crosby.
Downie clearly, clearly is trying to hurt Crosby in this situation. If Crosby was hurt, I'd bet any amount of money Downie would've gotten the book thrown at him, as has been his case in the past. We are talking about a player who was suspended 20 NHL games before ever playing an NHL regular season game.
Guessing whether or not a player is going to be suspended or not, and for how long, has become virtually impossible. Here's hoping we can talk about hockey for the rest of the season - not this crap.
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