The other day I wrote about the New York Rangers were finally becoming a team in sticking up for one another and stepping up where others were struggling, well Erik Christensen sort of dropped a bomb on that process yesterday after the blowout win against the Oilers. In discussing the brawl set off by Sean Avery and what I deem to have been a sucker punch by Avery, especially if quotes attributed by the Oilers are true in that Avery told Smid to wait or to do it the next shift, but me saying he suckered him is a lot different than a teammate doing it. That is exactly what Christensen did as in today's column Larry Brooks has the following quote:
As I just said me having an opinion and criticizing Avery from outside the locker room is much different than a guy he is supposed to line-up with each night to face the opposing team. In that spot Christensen even if he believes exactly what he told the press he just needs to keep his mouth shut and deal with that internally. For Christensen to do that to the media and not directly with Avery is him doing to Avery what he believes Avery did to him. The reason for me Christensen counts as a sucker punch is because in your own locker room with your teammates your guard is naturally down believing they will have your back whether they agree with you or not and instead of backing up his teammate or saying nothing Christensen rolled the bus right over Avery. It will interesting to see what if any fallout this has within the Rangers team chemistry.
