After last night’s disappointing loss, I asked Matt Bradley if he had any comments on Sean Avery. Apparently there has been a bit of press on this Avery guy, but Matt still answered the question, “Everyone always talks about Avery, he’s a good player, he plays the game well. If you leave him alone, nothing happens. That’s basically what happened tonight I thought.” Then in the post game press conference, Bruce Boudreau was also asked about Avery, and he replied, “I didn’t know, was he out there?” So apparently the view from the bench isn’t as good as you would expect. These guys were watching an entirely different game then the rest of us.
Of course Avery made an impact, of course they noticed him, however that wasn’t on the script. It seems like the Capitals have distributed some talking point on Mr. Sloppy Seconds. They can’t deny that Avery was a major force in the game. Let’s take a look at some of the Invisible Man’s highlights.
- Avery interfered with Mike Green (uncalled) on the break which resulted in Scott Gomez going in alone against Theodore. Gomez scored, thus shifting the momentum immediately after the Fleischman goal.
- Avery, involved in a physical battle with John Erskine, drew a penalty for high sticking. The ensuing power play netted an Antropov goal.
- Avery checked Mike Green clear into the players bench, and then continued to pursue him even at the risk of getting skates to the face. Avery has never been accused of being a smart player, and his decision making process here doesn’t really help his case. Not sure why the follow up jawing and contact by Avery wasn’t assessed a penalty, but I guess that is playoff hockey.
- Avery made contact with Jose Theodore after the whistle, the two exchanged words, and Sean then proceeded to push at Jose. Scrum ensued, which included Sergei Fedorov cross checking Avery from behind, into the goal. It was at this point that the Ranger’s bench noticed that Sean was bleeding from the ear. Again no penalties were given out, more of that “playoff hockey”
Of course there were several other minor incidents, but this was the Sean Avery highlight reel. He did try to check Green on a few other occasions, but Mike was able to catch him with a couple of nice counter hits. Several Capitals seemed to go out of their way to hit Avery back, including Ovechkin. It was obvious to anyone watching the game that Sean Avery was a disruptive force, regardless of what the club position was on the topic.
I don’t claim to have the answer of how you play against this guy. To me this is the reason that I would love to have Sean Avery on my team. Sure he is a pain in the ass, but he is much more of a pain in the ass to play against, then to play with. He reminds me of Dale Hunter in that way. Loved by the home team, hated everywhere else.
