Last night Sean Avery showed just how effective he can be
for the New York Rangers. In the end he
was not the star of the show as Brandon Dubinsky scoring his first goal of the
year took away much of the spotlight, but Avery was the Rangers best forward
for two periods. Avery provided energy
when much of the lineup was lacking it, scored a beautiful goal top shelf over
Cam Ward and drew two penalties. Avery
was so good that he saw time with Brad Richards in the third period and
reminded all Rangers fans why his army was so adamant to have him back. The boxscore says that Avery only played
10:06, but his impact and effectiveness on each shift certainly made it seem
like he was out there for significantly more time.
As someone who has taken the tact that the impact of #16 has
been overstated to this point it was a pleasure to see him be a key player at
MSG again. For his sake and the Rangers
let us hope that he can keep up that level because while the 5-1 final
overshadows some of the importance to his goal and effort, those who watched
know just how important Avery was to the Rangers maintaining their win streak.
