Battle Of Hudson

Later tonight, two players make their returns to Minnesota. Both Marian Gaborik and Derek Boogaard will be in the Ranger lineup when they visit the Wild at Xcel Energy Center for what’s expected to be a Wild atmosphere.

In his first year on Broadway, Gaborik missed the initial return with an injury but heard boos from the Minny crowd. It doesn’t figure to change for the former Wild No.1 pick who spent the first part of his career with the expansion club, totaling 219 goals and 218 assists for 437 points in 502 games over eight seasons. While many allude to Gabby’s five-goal game against the Rangers ironically enough two years ago, the highlight was when the talented Slovak helped carry Minnesota to the Conference Finals in 2003- netting nine goals and eight helpers for 17 points before falling to the Jean-Sebastien Giguere led Ducks.

Unfortunately, the superstar would be marred by injuries, including controversy his final year when fans questioned if he was sitting out too long under a coach he didn’t like in Jacques Lemaire. For more on his Wild career, good Tweep Hockette had plenty to say on Gabby and Boogie’s returns on a bizarre night that’ ll include fans being handed out Marian Gaborik bobble heads commemorating the franchise’s 10-year anniversary. Yikes.

As for Boogaard, he was a cult favorite and should be well received. Even if all he can do is fight, albeit not as much in his final Wild days, he’s gotten more favorable reviews from a quartet of Minny bloggers who discussed the big night with Puck Daddy’s Sean Leahy earlier today. Will Boogie drop ’em against a former teammate? Hard to say. New enforcer Brad Staubitz is much smaller and probably out of his league. Cal Clutterbuck not only delivers thunderous hits but now leads the Wild with seven goals, including three over his last four. It’s unlikely that Colton Gillies would dress. Perhaps rook Matt Kassian (6-5, 252) will get his shot.

How will Gaborik feel? Will he be able to perform in an arena that treated him well for so long? His team needs a spark following the embarrassing 5-1 drubbing at the hands of the Avs. By far the worst loss of the season. The Rangers were barely competitive, giving us only a strong second half in the first where returning Colorado starter Craig Anderson made a few sparklers. But they came out dead in the second from goalie out with Henrik Lundqvist permitting three clunkers on 16 shots to get pulled by John Tortorella, marking his second straight poor outing. Tonight, King Henrik gets to watch Martin Biron, who was expected to start regardless. Can he provide a lift?

They’ll need to play with more edge against what’s sure to be a fired up Wild club out for redemption. Historically, the Rangers don’t play well in this building. And they always seem to go into funks whenever they lose in Colorado. Especially around Thanksgiving. Are we about to see it rare its ugly head again? This team has proven they will compete, which is why last night was so disappointing. It was the first time they really looked like they quit. There also was the continued Mike Del Zotto regression in which the second-year defenseman had some dreadful turnovers and was on for four goals against, finishing minus-four. It’s way past the point of motivational speeches. He needs to either be benched or sat out when Michal Rozsival returns.

We’ll see what our team comes up with. They’re paying tribute to Pat Burns in Montreal right now. God bless him!

I’ve been sitting here struggling how to write this blog for a few minutes now…oh we all knew this day was coming at some point, but it doesn’t make it any easier to deal with the loss of Pat Burns to cancer tonight, ending a six-year fight that inspired the hockey world. It’s often said of people when they pass on that they were unique and irreplaceable. In the case of coach Burns, nobody ever doubted the validity of those sentiments.

Just from a pure hockey sense, he was a character. Tough and demanding on the one hand, while possessing a deadpan sense of humor and personality on the other, I followed his career long before he ever became a Devils coach. Just when I was getting into hockey in the early 90’s, Burns was leading the Leafs to two straight Conference Finals, in the first one having a memorable screaming match with opposing coach Barry Melrose that showed his competitiveness.

Ironically enough it was a book by Stan Fischler called simply ‘Coaches’ (written in 1995) that opened my eyes to just what type of individual Burns was. Everyone who follows hockey knows that Burns became the only coach to win three Jack Adams awards for Coach of the Year, and on three seperate Original Six teams, to boot – Montreal in 1989, the Leafs in ’93 and Boston in ’98. Maybe not as many hockey fans also realize that Burns actually worked as a cop in the Gatineau police force in Montreal for sixteen years and became a detective-sergeant, working undercover when almost by accident he got into coaching.

After filling in for a friend coaching Bantam and Midget hockey, he eventually impressed enough to land a head job with the Hull Olympiques Junior team, coaching players such as Luc Robitaille. As fate would have it, Wayne Gretzky bought the Olympiques and convinced Burns he had a future in coaching. So it was that Burns finally retired from the police force and sure enough, Gretzky proved a prophet when Burns first became a head coach of the Canadiens’ AHL outfit in Sherbrook, then promoted to the head job in 1989.

You couldn’t have scripted much of a better start to Burns’ career as he won the Jack Adams in his very first season and led the Habs all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they eventually lost in six games to Calgary. Ironically enough it was Gretzky who torpedoed his next big chance to win the Cup in Toronto, when his hat trick in Game 7 of the Conference Finals stopped the Leafs a game short in 1993. After losing in the Conference Finals again to Vancouver the next year, Burns eventually moved on as the Leafs rebuilt and wound up in Boston, winning his third Jack Adams.

Still, it looked as if he would come up short of his dream of a Stanley Cup after Burns got fired from Boston and was out of the NHL for two years. As he so eloquently put it later on, ‘I was in the mountains in New Hampshire when Lou called’…Lou being of course Lou Lamoriello, GM of the Devils who was unhappy with a team that had underachieved in 2002 and wanted a disciplinarian to restore order in New Jersey.

That would prove to be a marriage made in heaven, or hell as some Devils fans might put it with a wink and smile. Although not as talented as the ’95 and ’00 versions that won Stanley Cups, the ’03 team won a special place with me for its heart and determination. Despite doubters along the way, the Devils edged out the Flyers by a single point in a tough division race that earned New Jersey an important second seed, which kept them away from the tougher part of the draw that year. While the Flyers would slough it out with Toronto and eventually fall to conference powerhouse Ottawa, the Devils gained confidence with relatively easy five-game victories over the Bruins and Tampa Bay during the first two rounds.

Still, the Devils would eventually have to face Ottawa, acclaimed the best team in the league that year and Canada’s best chance at seeing a team win the Cup in a decade. Without home-ice that series, the Devils still raced out to a 3-1 lead – but reached a moment of truth after the Senators won Games 5 and 6, beating us in overtime of Game 6 for our only home loss during the playoffs that year. In Ottawa for Game 7, the Devils had the worst start you could have when Magnus Arvedson scored a soft goal inside a few minutes and star center Joe Nieuwendyk, hurt late in Game 6 was unable to go anymore after trying to play through a couple of shifts.

It was at this point that Burns came up with perhaps the most important motivational magic of his career during the first intermission, telling his team that ‘there’s a guy in there (Nieuwendyk) who’s won a couple of Stanley Cups, a Conn Smythe and he’s got tears in his eyes cause he can’t help you guys out’. In hockey terms this was as close to ‘Win one for the Gipper’ as I’ve ever heard, and sure enough the Devils would rally back to take a second period lead, then with the game tied 2-2 in the final two minutes of regulation Grant Marshall and Jeff Friesen combined to win the game, with a Marshall pass going through the legs of Wade Redden and Friesen putting it home for one of the many important goals he would score that postseason.

Although the Devils would face surprisingly stiff opposition in the Finals against the Mighty Ducks, who won all three of their games in Anaheim the old coach would finally have his first Stanley Cup win as Burns and the Devils held serve at home, thanks to the coach’s near flawless line-matching and a boisterous crowd at the old Continental Airlines Arena. Not to mention a decent amount of talent and a lot of heart. Perhaps it’s fitting that Marshall and Friesen combined for the most important goal of the playoffs, since neither had a particularly distinguished career before that moment and both flamed out pretty fast afterward. Just another example of how great coaching can bring out the best in everyone.

Unfortunately, real adversity was just around the corner when at the end of the 2004 season Burns first found out he had colon cancer, then liver cancer in 2005 prevented his return to the Devils’ bench and forced his retirement. Still, Burns remained part of the Devils family, scouting and consulting all while he was fighting cancer for the remaining few years of his life. Just when it seemed as if the worst was behind him, Burns found out he had lung cancer last year and from then it seemed only a matter of time.

Yet it was how he fought the good fight that most people will remember in the end. Burns even managed to get behind the bench one more time, in 2008 when he got named to the coaching staff of the Canadian team for the IIHF World Championships but more than even that, he was determined to live his life on his terms – initially forgoing treatment when the final cancer was discovered and doing as much work as he could for the Devils and hockey. Towards the end, he was still doing commentaries for CKAC, a French-language Montreal radio station. Fortunately he lived long enough to see groundbreaking on Pat Burns Arena in Quebec, scheduled to open in Stanstead college sometime in 2011.

While Burns himself lived life without regrets, many who respect and admired him no doubt do regret the fact that he will not live long enough to see his career be honored with his eventual induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Still, anyone who knew him or followed his career will be looking forward to the day when it eventually happens. Perhaps the biggest honor any of us can bestow on the coach though, is by remembering who he was as a person and following his example. Hopefully you’re healthy and happy wherever you are now, Coach.

Former Devil coach Pat Burns passed away Friday at the age of 58, leaving behind a great legacy that included becoming the only coach to win the Jack Adams with three different teams while leading the Devils to the Stanley Cup in 2003.

In some very sad news, Pat Burns passed away today at the age of 58, succumbing to cancer. After beating the terrible disease twice after leading the New Jersey Devils to the Stanley Cup in 2003, he learned that it had spread to his lungs January of 2009. Initially, he didn’t go for treatment but eventually opted for chemotherapy.

The former cop with the keen sense of humor had a distinguished coaching career, becoming the only coach to win the Jack Adams with three different teams (Montreal-1989, Toronto-1993, Boston-1998). He guided the Canadiens to the Stanley Cup Final losing to Calgary and took the Maple Leafs to consecutive Western Conference Finals. It took a new century for Burns to win the ultimate prize, taking the ’02-03 Devils to Lord Stanley.

“I owe a lot to Lou [Lamoriello],” Burns recalled after being out of the game two years before the Devil President and GM gave him another opportunity behind the bench. “I was out of the game for two years and I read a lot of articles saying I was done and I wasn’t the style of coach people wanted. He believed in me.“

“Pat was a close friend to us all, while dedicating his life to his family and to the game of hockey,” Lamoriello said in a statement while hinting that Burns would get his day in the Hockey Hall Of Fame soon. “Today, the hockey world has lost a great friend and ambassador.“

It was in his second year with New Jersey that he knew something was wrong heading into the ’04 postseason. After the Devils were eliminated, he announced that he had colon cancer, asking Lou to replace him. Larry Robinson took over following the lockout. “For those who know me well, I’ve never backed down from any fight, and I’m not going to back down from this one,” he proclaimed.

After defeating the first round, it was discovered he had liver cancer in 2005. Burns again conquered the deadly disease and even returned to coaching, helping work with Team Canada for the 2008 IIHF World Championships in Halifax and Quebec City. That same season, former Canadien all-time great goalie Patrick Roy asked his former coach to come to his jersey retirement ceremony at the Bell Centre.

When he was stricken the third time, Burns knew his days were numbered. However, as prideful a man as he was, he still tried to do as much as possible, scouting games near his Tampa home.

“I miss the practice times; I miss the morning skates,” Burns told CBC. “There was something about before a hockey game — that electricity that existed — that I really, really miss and probably that’s why I like going to games because I can feel some of it, anyway.“

After leading the Hull Olympiques to the Memorial Cup Final in 1986, Burns emerged from the Habs’ farm system turning into one of the best coaches of our game. If not for the backing of Wayne Gretzky, who knows if Burns would’ve gone onto great success, winning 501 games over 14 years with Montreal, Toronto, Boston and New Jersey. In 1,019 career games, he went 501-353-151-14. His postseason record was 78-71 including the memorable Game Seven that saw him dress Ken Daneyko en route to a 3-0 shutout of Anaheim for the Devils’ third Cup. He’d later admit that winning the championship was the crowning achievement of his career.

“He definitely was the best coach I had in my career,” said former Toronto netminder Felix Potvin. “He was hard, but honest.“

Burns leaves behind his loving wife, son and daughter. May you shine above smiling down when they unveil your HHOF crown.

I’ve been fighting the good fight about giving Johnny MacLean a chance to work this out, grow on the job…but now I’m done, after nineteen games and a 5-12-2 record that’s actually worse than it seems. It’s not just that we’re losing games, we’re not even competitive much of the time. Another listless performance in losing comfortably to a team almost as bad in the Maple Leafs – who’s missing their captain and star defenseman Dion Phaneuf as well as longtime nemesis Jean-Sebastian Giguere – was my official tipping point. Not to mention the coach himself appears as if he’s reached the end of his rope in terms of being able to get a hold on the situation, and is now changing lines period by period instead of week by week.

I know firing the coach isn’t going to magically make us a great team, but right now I’d settle for competitive. For all that ills this team, from the mysterious ‘elbow bruise’ of Martin Brodeur which again forced him out of action tonight to the injuries to captain Jamie Langenbrunner and star winger Zach Parise, still we should not be nearly this bad, I’m sorry. You still have what should be four competent NHL defensemen, you still have forwards that are very talented and should be scoring a lot more than they are. There’s no reason for us to be losing every game by three goals, there’s just not. This is no longer merely a bad team, we’re now Pittsburgh Penguins pre-lockout type bad and that’s unacceptable on any level with the talent still on the ice.

And yes I’m still all for massive changes in the locker room which I feel should be concurrent with the coach’s imminent dismissal. There needs to be massive turnover with the staff too, as much as I love Larry Robinson and Scott Stevens as I alluded to in my last blog there’s been too much of a ‘family’ feel on the staff in recent years. Plus any coach knows that Lou Lamoriello hires the assistants, ensuring he has a mole in the room anyway which also doesn’t help any coach do his job.

Right now I’m not even annoyed…I’m just half apathetic about the product on the ice and half anxious that whatever changes are going to be made are just over and done with already. Of course I’ve been feeling that impatience for months with our salary cap issues. It does seem like we’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop for months, and it’s still hanging up there. Funny thing is when I heard there was a team meeting after tonight’s game I figured Lou had called it, now it seems more like one of those players-only meetings. Unless Gordon Bombay’s in the room telling the team to be proud and let’s fly though, I don’t see how talking will help anything at this point.

Especially since a huge part of the problem is just the collective toll that losing has taken since January. Dating back to mid-January of last year the Devils’ record is a miserable 22-32-8 in 62 games, including the five-game ouster at the hands of the Flyers in the 2010 playoffs. That’s 16-16-6 in our last 38 games of the regular season last year (3-7-1 pre-Kovy trade) with a 6-16-2 record dating back to the playoffs. That’s no longer a small size sample and I don’t care who you are, that much losing is going to puncture anyone’s confidence. One other little nugget to consider, this team’s longest win streak since last December is a whopping two games. And we haven’t even had what you could call a winning ‘streak’ this year.

Unfortunately now it seems as if only a total blowup will purge this stink of losing.

Last night, the Bruins halted the Rangers’ win streak at three, posting a 3-2 win at The Garden. It was their first game debuting the elegant Heritage jerseys, which looked great with the New York across in red as compared to the original white when our club was born in 1926-27. Too bad they couldn’t come out with a ‘W,’ making too many mistakes against a well schooled Claude Julien club that plays a similar style to the old Jacques Lemaire Devils.

There was plenty of tight checking making for plenty of battles for space. Our club killed two Bruin power plays with superb penalty killing, continuing their recent run after starting the year so poorly. Brandon Dubinsky was high-sticked leading to a double minor. The first three minutes were dreadful as they couldn’t even get a shot on Tim Thomas, mostly due to Boston’s aggressiveness. If not for a great pass from Henrik Lundqvist, which Ryan Callahan pushed off the boards for a fortunate bounce right to a streaking Dubinsky, they don’t score. Instead, Dubi made the most of the opportunity beating Thomas with a quick snapper for the Rangers’ only lead. It was his club-leading 11th.

One of the themes in this match was John Tortorella matching the Homegrown Line (Dubinsky-Anisimov-Callahan) against the Bruins’ No.1 line of Milan Lucic, Patrice Bergeron and Nathan Horton. A match-up Julien didn’t shy away from. A turning point came when a forechecking Horton forced Dan Girardi to make a quick reverse in the right corner leading to a turnover due to Artem Anisimov not being in the right spot. Bergeron stole the puck and then dished across for an open Lucic, who buried it five-hole to tie it. Girardi was expecting Arty to be along the wall but he was caught out of position leading to the goal against.

A second critical mistake led to the Bruins’ second straight. This time, the guilty party was Matt Gilroy, who foolishly tried to keep a rolling puck in on his backhand. He was so awkward that it never stood a chance. Especially in a tie game against an opportunistic opponent who pounces on errors. After he fumbled the puck, 18 year-old rookie Tyler Seguin blew past him up the right wing and fired an absolute laser top shelf past Lundqvist for his third of the season. The No.2 overall pick had been criticized due to little scoring of late. However, here he made a great defensive play and turned on the jets making no mistake to put his team ahead. For Gilroy, who isn’t good defensively, it won’t put him in Tort’s good graces. One positive is that Hobey’s been more aggressive, getting involved offensively utilizing his speed and puck carrying ability. When Michal Rozsival returns, they really should consider shifting Gilroy to forward. He could be an asset on say the fourth line. The way Mike Del Zotto is struggling, don’t write Hobey off just yet.

Trailing by one, the Rangers had a chance to make another statement. They came out strong but a brutal goal allowed by Lundqvist to ageless wonder Mark Recchi really hurt. The 42 year-old Recchi took a simple shot from a sharp angle that somehow eluded Henrik going just over the red line, deflating the crowd. Just like that, Boston had scored three in a row and were up 3-1.

There was plenty of time to comeback. One thing about this team. They never are out of a game. Urged on by the Garden Faithful who also can sense the fight in our guys, they responded by taking the play to the Bruins, forcing Thomas to make tough saves. Finally, the constant pressure resulted in a goal when resurgent rookie Derek Stepan forced a turnover and then made a perfect backhand pass to a cutting Marian Gaborik, who shot over Thomas’ blocker for his fourth in three games. Just a great read by Stepan, who Tortorella moved up to the top line after Erik Christensen got little accomplished. Given how he threw Sean Avery under the bus and how much of an enigma he is, refusing to shoot early on a wide open chance, you have to conclude he’s the odd man out once Chris Drury is back. Christy just isn’t doing enough to stay in the lineup. At this point, D-Step’s regained his confidence and deserves to center Gabby and Alex Frolov when they visit the Avs tomorrow.

Still trailing 3-2, the Blueshirts kept the pressure on. However, Thomas was up to the challenge, stopping everything in his way. If last year, he lost his job to then rookie Tuukka Rask, then this year, he’s regained the form that won him a Vezina in ’08-09. His two biggest saves were equally impressive. First, he somehow got a piece of a Gaborik redirect of a Girardi point shot, diving across to keep it out to moans. Even me and Dad couldn’t believe it didn’t go in. Then, on another powerless five-on-three in which they did little to the shock of no one, the best chance came when Ryan Callahan had Thomas down and out but couldn’t stuff the puck past him off a faceoff. The Boston goalie later admitted he got lucky there. Sometimes, lucky is better than good. Considering how he sprawls around making every save an adventure, it sure is fun to watch. Even if it drove us nuts.

After the penalty kill, Boston got their legs and put together a couple of strong shifts just working the puck down low which ran time off the clock. That included their big top line keeping us pinned late before Tort pulled Lundqvist to no avail. The Bruins simply didn’t allow our team to get the kind of opportunity needed to tie it, earning a hard fought win to improve to 7-1 away from TD Northbank Garden. Interestingly enough, they’re only 3-4-1 at home. Go figure. What’s most impressive is that they’re off to a good start without Marc Savard, who may return. David Krejci is still out as is Johnny Boychuk who skated in warmups. Marco Sturm also remains out. What happens when they get a full roster? Obviously, Michael Ryder will probably be moved clearing room. This Bruin team has the feel of a contender. They do it by grinding opponents to death. Will they have enough offense? Who knows. But it’ll be an interesting race between them and Montreal.

For the Rangers, it’s back to work. They know why they lost. Too many miscues along with Lundqvist getting burned for the crusher. Throw in the power play failures and they earned the loss. Was it winnable? Absolutely. But against a team like Boston, you can’t afford to make those kind of mistakes. So, no four-game winning streak spoiling Heritage Night. Now, it’s on the road for a tough game in Colorado, who already beat us once. Hopefully, someone will remember to take Chris Stewart in front. Our team’s grown since that game back on Oct.18 which saw the Avs get two in a row literally for a 3-1 win at MSG. Historically, we don’t fare well in the Rocky Mountains. I could care less. This team’s different. They fight. We owe them. Let’s get it!

In the light of Scott Gordon‘s recent axing, the question the entire hockey world is asking right now is what of the status of Johnny MacLean, coach of the 5-11-2 Devils? Is there any coach in professional sports outside of Brad Childress that’s on a hotter seat than Johnny Mac right now? Given the amount of money spent in the offseason and the talent level on this team, to an outsider it’s certainly unacceptable for this team to be where it is right now. And if you were to take a poll of impatient Devils fans, I’d bet about ninety percent want the coach axed immediately, if not sooner. With Lou Lamoriello‘s recent statement that ‘everything will be evaluated at the 20-game mark’, alarms have gone off all over the state as to what that means for our embattled head coach.

Admittedly I’m not in love with the head coach right now either. Oh, the team has tried for the most part, unlike the end of last year – but also unlike last year they seem to have no discernible direction. Say what you will about Jacques Lemaire‘s trap, at least there was a plan in place. Granted, the players didn’t exactly try hard to execute it after December but the plan was still there. After almost a quarter of the season I can’t tell what the Mac system is really, are we attempting to be more offensive? Are we still being defensive? Right now the Devils look more like a semi-organized pond hockey team than anything else.

Plus, fans always like it when the head coach shows emotion and far too often Mac’s opted for the puzzled look as opposed to screaming and yelling. Other than the newsworthy scratching of Ilya Kovalchuk for missing meetings and occasional benching of Jason Arnott there haven’t been much in terms of consequences for screwing up. He doesn’t seem to know what a timeout is, other than something you use at the end of the game to attempt to diagram a play…I was stunned he actually called one against the Sabres after we gave up two goals. And lines-wise, one similarity between Mac and Lemaire is neither seems to like to leave a line together longer than five minutes, although in Mac’s case he does have the excuse of guys going in and out of the lineup daily. Plus Mac even took Matt Taormina off the Colin White d-pairing once Anton Volchenkov came back, which was unconscionable considering that was the only d-pairing that was working.

All that said you would think I would be one of the ninety percent of fans calling for the coach’s immediate dismissal. And maybe I would be if not for the outlying circumstances. First of all, Lou’s spent several years prepping Mac for this job, from having him be an assistant behind the bench to coaching Lowell last year…what kind of message does it send when you have to axe him after less than a quarter of the season? Plus, this team goes through coaches like a kid goes through Kleenex in the winter. Our job is already the most unstable in sports with coaches averaging something like 1.2 years on the job in the last couple of decades, and this same group of players got Lemaire fired last year. How many coaches do they get to go through before Lou finally throws a brushback pitch and shakes up the locker room?

Before Lou does fire Mac, which almost seems inevitable at this point given all the rumors swirling around the arena last week from season ticket holders that Mac needed to win soon to owner Jeff Vanderbeek‘s likely impatience with shelling out all that dough for a lottery team and an average attendance of around 12,000 for non-Opening Night games (not including the free tickets we’ve basically given away every night), Lou himself really needs to take a hard look in the mirror.

First of all his coach-picking in itself has been suspect since Pat Burns. He cajoled Larry Robinson into taking the job after the lockout, maybe he had little choice after Burns’ cancer relapse finally forced his retirement for good but still it was the wrong decision. After Lou finished out the ’05-06 season he hired Claude Julien…then fired him with the team in first place late in the season presumably to clear the way for the guy he really wanted to hire, which was Brent Sutter. Given that it took eighteen months to convince him to leave Red Deer for the Devils, what happened after the end of the ’08-09 season is on Lou (as much as Sutter was a snake) since it was predictable Sutter would eventually get homesick and leave. And finally for the coup de grace, he passed over qualified candidates like Peter Laviolette and Dave Tippett to bring back Jacques for a year, which proved to be an utter disaster in 2010 after a strong start to the season in 2009.

Not to mention his FA signings and defections have mostly backfired since the lockout, in more ways than one. Name the offseason, there was usually a bad Lou signing that cost the team money and cap space…2005, need we revisit the three M’s fiasco (Mogilny, McGillis and Malakhov)? 2007, remember the immortal Vitali Vishnevski? One year into a four-year deal he got farmed off to Europe. 2008, hello Brian Rolston. This year might eventually prove to be the worst of all with Kovalchuk struggling mightily in the wake of his $100 million contract, not to mention FA signings like Henrik Tallinder and Johan Hedberg.

Almost as bad as the FA signings from without are the decisions from within, both in who we let walk and the cost of retaining some of the people we did re-sign. Admittedly I was all for bringing back Patrik Elias and Jamie Langenbrunner when both were free agents at the end of the ’05-06 season, but giving Elias a NMC and Langenbrunner a NTC set a bad precedent that Lou’s followed with almost half his roster. No fewer than nine players have either no-movement or no-trade clauses in their contract, although we inherited Arnott’s when we traded for him. Used to be only Martin Brodeur and Scott Stevens had no-trades, and even than it wasn’t written into the contract per se – it was more of a handshake agreement. Throwing around NMC’s and NTC’s like they were candy have come home to roost this offseason when we were in desperate cap straits after signing Kovalchuk, Volchenkov, Tallinder and Hedberg in a spending spree that was totally unlike Lou.

Of course, the Devils being the Devils there always seemed to be a key defection that we were reeling from every season too. Right after the lockout it was Scott Niedermayer‘s decision to play with brother Rob in Anaheim. Eventually talent like Scott Gomez, Brian Rafalski and Paul Martin, among others walked out the door for various reasons. For years we’ve been struggling to fill the roles those players had, specifically a top six center and puck-moving defensemen who made a difference defensively. Replacing Nieds with Malakhov and McGillis was bad enough, hoping Andy Greene and the since-departed Johnny Oduya could fill Rafalski’s shoes wasn’t too great either and replacing Martin with Tallinder looks horrible right now. Yes, we signed Volchenkov too, one of the few quality additions to the defense in recent years but he doesn’t help with our main problem on the blueline which is a guy who can help kick-start the offense.

Aside from Lou’s own soul-searching he really has to tackle some hard issues in the locker room. When you have a team that quit the last half of the ’09-10 season and still curls up into a ball at the first sign of adversity this year that’s not on the coaching. Eventually you have to make decisions for the good of the team even if they’re not the easiest ones to make, given the various contracts and NMC/NTC’s involved. Getting Lemaire fired should have been the last chance for some fatcat vets who have been a part of declining results since the lockout, with three consecutive first-round losses since Sutter stripped the C from Elias and gave it to Langenbrunner, who sulked his way through the latter part of the ’09-10 season after the Olympics.

No random coach firing is going to fix everything that ails this team, especially in light of all the injuries to key players like Zach Parise, Bryce Salvador and the small village of players who’ve missed time due to major and minor ailments this year. Contending teams don’t have three rookies starting on defense, really no NHL team does. And we’re surprised the team’s been terrible defensively? Offensively there’s been massive underachievement going on and I’m sure some of that is on Mac and his system or lack thereof, but at what point do we stop doing what’s predictable and start doing what’s right?

I’m not even entirely convinced Lou would fire Mac on his own, despite his traditionally itchy trigger finger but I’m sure pressure from Vanderbeek and the season-ticket holders who are staying away in droves will demand it. Not to mention Lou’s own competitiveness, there’s no way he wants to punt one of the final years of Brodeur’s career – and maybe one of the last two years of having Parise here if the winger decides he doesn’t want to be on a sinking ship after next season.

How this next week plays out will be fascinating, if stressful. Things start off with a bang in Toronto tomorrow night, with all the accompanying hoopla over Leafs GM Brian Burke‘s role in the Kovalchuk contract rejection this offseason and the way he stabbed his mentor Lou in the back during the process. Not to mention both teams struggling make for juicy newspaper headlines in each city. Then Saturday we face an improved St. Louis team, where some of their young talent is finally living up to the hype, combined with better goaltending after bringing in last year’s playoff hero Jaroslav Halak and signing Ty Conklin last offseason. Even with the Leafs struggling, those will be tough road games to win – espeically if Kovy curls up into a ball in Toronto the way he did in the torrid atmosphere of LA.

Then, we’re at the 20-game mark. Right smack before a week back in the tri-state area that features home games against the Caps and Flyers (two almost automatic losses as things stand now) with another home game against Sutter’s Flames and a road tilt on the Island – never a kind building for us – sandwiched between them. Something has to give soon, but what is the $100 million question. And if Mac is fired, where does Lou even go? Probably the easiest option would be what he did in ’06 and ’07…put himself behind the bench and have his presence at least demand accountability. Not as if we’re ever going to have a long-term solution behind the bench if we have to pull the plug on Mac this soon anyway.

If you’re talking about bringing an outsider in, then Bob Hartley would be a natural fit given that he’s coached Kovy before and had success…winning a Cup in Colorado much to our chagrin and even a division title in Atlanta, their only playoff appearance in franchise history. Plus he’ll demand accountability and has the hardware to command respect. As much as I like Hartley though, I wouldn’t even be in favor of bringing him in because of the favoritism factor. We already gave Kovy all this money, supposedly promised a more up-tempo system, built a marketing campaign around him and now we’re bringing in a coach Kovy presumably likes? What kind of message does that send to the locker room, assuming they aren’t already fed up with the Kovy rules?

Still, part of me wouldn’t mind seeing an outsider come in. Maybe part of the problem is our last two coaches have both had such close ties to the team, as did Larry. Under Sutter it at least looked as if the players were held accountable, right till the end when Sutter himself didn’t stay to finish the job. So maybe from that perspective you could sell me on a Mac firing if Lou shifted course and brought in an outsider – but it’s hard to see Lou doing a 180 when the main reason he gave Mac the job was because ‘he knows our personnel better than anyone else’.

Decisions, decisions…as much as I’ve criticized Lou’s job since the lockout, I wouldn’t want to have it this week either.

Scott Gordon was fired the other day after his team lost its 10th straight. But was it the right move for the rebuilding Islanders?

The writing was on the wall. When your team doesn’t win games, usually something happens. Unfortunately for Scott Gordon, that meant he was held responsible for a tumultuous 10-game losing streak behind the Islander bench. So much for preaching patience in Year Three of a rebuild that really didn’t start till the club landed franchise center John Tavares last year.

Patience and club owner Charles Wang don’t mix. Peter Laviolette wasn’t good enough after getting the club back to the playoffs pre-lockout, eventually landing on his feet guiding the Hurricanes to Lord Stanley in ’05-06. Replacement Steve Stirling didn’t make it through two seasons on the Island despite Wang’s cost cutting ways. Ted Nolan lasted two years before being mysteriously fired by Garth Snow during the summer of ’08. Gordon replaced him and was supposed to be the young coach who would lead the franchise into the future.

Despite back-to-back last place finishes his first two seasons, Gordon had the ’09-10 Islanders in playoff contention until the final three weeks. Under him, the Islanders played hard- bringing a strong work ethic to the rink. In Tavares’ rookie year, they improved from 26 wins and a league worst 61 points in ’08-09 to 34 wins and 79 points, finishing nine points behind eighth Montreal, who upset Washington and Pittsburgh before falling to the seventh seeded Flyers. Nine out from the two unlikely Eastern Conference Finalists. A marked improvement from Year One when he had little to work with. Last year, he was supposed to get Rick DiPietro back but instead the franchise netminder got into eight games before another setback finished his season. Good thing Snow brought in vets Dwayne Roloson and Martin Biron. Otherwise it would’ve been another uphill climb.

Aside from better goaltending particularly from Roloson, Tavares scored 24 goals and former King Matt Moulson reached 30, giving Gordon two players who scored 20-or-better. Remarkably, no Islander hit 20 in his first year with Kyle Okposo pacing the club with 18. The former ’06 first rounder improved to 19 markers and a career best 33 helpers and 52 points. Before this season ever started, Gordon lost his power wing to right shoulder surgery which could keep him out until Christmas. He also was without Mark Streit to a torn left labrun (rotator cuff). Call it bad luck. How many coaches can overcome the loss of their top defenseman and top six forward? Take a look across the Hudson for primary example No.1 where expectations are much higher. Tavares also missed three games due to a concussion. We’re not talking about a plethora of talent here.When you’re relying on kids like JT91, Josh Bailey, Frans Nielsen, Blake Comeau, Michael Grabner and even Rob Schremp, who just returned this month, it takes time.

Don’t remind Wang, whose penny pinching ways haven’t helped his coaches. Factor in the Alexei Yashin albatross which still counts against the Islander salary cap and it’s mind numbing. Yashin and former defenseman Brendan Witt are being paid not to play at a combined $5.76 million. Subtract their buyout clauses and the Isles would be hovering just over the cap cutoff. Despite the way they’re run, Snow did well in the offseason beefing up the blueline with James Wisniewski, Mark Eaton, Milan Jurcina and ex-Devil Mike Mottau. Wisniewski has been as advertised leading the club with 13 points (2-11-13) while playing hard nosed. Eaton paces them with 38 blocked shots with Mottau’s 28 right behind. Before Jurcina went down to a bad hamstring, he had 22 hits and 18 blocks while also contributing two goals and a helper. Andrew MacDonald only played seven games before breaking his hand. So, Gordon lost half his D.

Before the 10-game skid (0-9-1) which cost him his job, he had the team out to a surprising 4-2-1 start in first. That was due to hot starts from Comeau, Bailey and Ranger castoff P.A. Parenteau with help from Moulson, Nielsen and captain Doug Weight. Everyone chipped in. If you compared their first month to November, it explains why they’re struggling to score goals. Bailey hasn’t registered a point in a month, possibly not the same after missing two games. The club is counting on the third-year forward to take pressure off Tavares, who’s hit a slump having not lit the lamp the past eight games. He carries a club worst minus-12 along with Wisniewski into tonight’s home match versus the Lightning.

With new interim coach Jack Capuano coming up from Bridgeport, maybe it’ll light a fire. Sometimes, coaching changes work. Even if this one seems for the wrong reasons. Gordon was a good man and his team tried during the skid, falling short at Anaheim and San Jose. There was also the gut wrenching home loss to the enemy Flyers in which punk Daniel Carcillo got away with a late hit after a whistle. Current Ranger Ruslan Fedotenko got nabbed but a bully like Carcillo doesn’t and eventually the Flyers score late breaking the Isles’ backs. You figure it out. That’s how it went for Gordon, who suddenly went from a rising coach good enough to help assist Team USA to an Olympic silver medal in Vancouver to moving upstairs next to Snow. It’s true his teams never scored much which was part of the reason Snow made the change. Maybe Capuano changes that.

“When we’re in a situation we’re in right now—we’ve lost 10 games in a row—sometimes you have to go with your gut and make decisions that are tough,” explained the Islander GM of axing Gordon, who finishes with a 64-94-23 record. “We believe we need a change in direction and, with the majority of the regular season still ahead of us, our goal remains to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs.“

“Hopefully, we can get some new energy, some new ideas, a different style of play,” Tavares said. “Scott tried a lot of different things, and we played better than other teams some nights. We didn’t get a lot of breaks. Things didn’t go our way, and Garth felt it was the right time to bring in some new ideas.”

It’s never easy when anyone loses their job. Especially a guy well respected. When players don’t perform, this is what happens. Part of the ugly business of sports. Gordon never had the benefit of a healthy Islander roster and neither will his replacement at least for a while. Capuano joined the Isles as an assistant coach in ’05-06 before taking over Bridgeport where he went 133-100-8-14.

“I don’t know if you need to shake it up too much,” he said. “Scott brought a lot of structure a couple of years ago, but there are some things we’ll tweak a little.”

“We’re just concerned about Wednesday,” Snow added. “He’s the coach of this team as we speak right now. He’s excited about the opportunity and looking forward to getting this team turned around.”

Starting tonight, the Islanders play 11 of the next 16 games at home following a brutal stretch that saw them go 2-8-2 in 12 of the first 17 away from Nassau Coliseum. The game against NHL scoring leader Steven Stamkos will be just the sixth off the Meadowbrook. Ironically, they played well on home ice last year going 23-14-4. Road woes are what cost them any chance of the postseason, winning just 11 of 41 (11-23-7) the previous season. If they’re to get back on track under Capuano, that must change.

“It’s not the ideal situation,” Capuano said following his first practice Monday. “I have great respect for Scott. We’ve been friends for a long time and I’ve learned a great deal from him. But there was a change, and I’ll make the best of my opportunity.”

A little under two weeks ago, it was a Friday Night in Western New York and the hated Montreal Canadiens rolled into town, riding high along with the strong play of goaltender Carey Price. And after it was all said and done, the Sabres fell short 3-2, as the immortal Patrick Lalime (in Darcy Regier’s eyes anyway) lost to fall to 0-3 on the season and 9-24-5 during his illustrious tenure as the backup goalie for the Buffalo Sabres (and I do stress the word backup).

Ok everyone, it is time to be to stop with the sarcasm and get serious around here! After this latest defeat, the defending Northeast Division leading Sabres dropped to a miserable 3-9-2, Ryan Miller was still on the shelf, and the Sabres offense went out like the lights at the new and improved Meadowlands. So talk of the NHL Draft already, I mean seriously? First off the Buffalo Bills have us thinking about the #1 overall pick with their miserable play, and a lot of us Buffalo fans had to figure the Sabres can save the winter for us right?

It sure did not seem that way. Was it time to dismiss GM Darcy Regier? Is it time to fire Lindy Ruff, the Sabres coach since 1998 and a well respected coach around the NHL? Has his message fallen on deaf ears? Do the Sabres need a new voice? Or will the Sabres ever rid of the real problem in Larry Quinn (now THAT is dreaming, let’s stay with reality, shall we?) Is Tyler Myers crashing down to reality, as his minus was getting as high as some of Tiger Woods’s best scores of his career (and I mean golf, not OFF the golf course)

It is definitely possible that many Sabres fans and NHL fans alike were thinking some of the same thoughts, and I for one must admit the thinking that it is time to remove Ruff, right or wrong. But this is exactly why I am not a NHL GM, or a NHL Coach, or a NHL Executive (thankfully for the Sabres, otherwise I would have traded Miller years ago)

As the Sabres took their 3-9-2 record up the QEW to Toronto, it appeared to me initially that this game was the last stand: If they cannot beat the hapless Maple Leafs, that is it, season done, fire Regier and Ruff, and get ready for 2011-2012. But the Sabres had other plans, and won in Toronto. Then onto New Jersey for a shootout win either because of the jedi mind trick by Jhonas Enroth or the Ilya Kovalchuk epic fail: You decide. Then a OTL against the NY Rangers at MSG, which to me was a ‘good point’ earned if you will.

Then from this vantage point, the season started to show some real hope with a gutty 3-2 overtime win against the high powered Washington Capitals, as Tomas Vanek scored a dazzling game winner providing jubilation and frustration all at the same time because you know Vanek has all the tools to be an elite scorer in this league, but decides to display that every 10-14 days at best.

Then last night, another high scoring team came to town in the form of the Vancouver Canucks, and the Sabres were off to the right start with a 3-1 lead and one is thinking ‘This team is back!” But of course, we know Buffalo teams never make anything easy, as a lackluster 3rd period ensued. The Canucks lit the lamp twice in the 3rd, and controlled the period to tie the game at 3-3 and then those happy thoughts once again turned to thoughts of misery.

But alas, Tyler Myers continued his strong play as of late with an OT winner and the Sabres prevailed 4-3.

So here we are: The Sabres sit at 7-9-3 with 17 points. This past week was a huge surge for this team, you never want to fall into the abyss so early in the season. Now the key is until we carve the turkeys on Thanksgiving is for the Sabres to stay consistent, rack up some points, and get to .500.

And you have to give credit here where credit is due: Avoiding any knee jerk reactions and removing Ruff could have proved disastrous for this season and beyond. When you think about Ruff and Regier, it is truly a glass half full or empty proposition: a few dazzling seasons with a Stanley Cup appearance with four trips to the Eastern Conference Finals, but also consider this team has missed the NHL Playoffs 5 times in 8 seasons.

What should the Sabres do with Ruff and Regier? Well as long as fans like me are not the GM, just wait and see.

NOTES:

While the Sabres can rest a little easier with the current surge, given the fact that the Washington Capitals, Los Angeles Kings, and the Tampa Bay Lightning are all on the schedule this week, Ruff and Co better not get too comfortable.

Why exactly was Jhonas Enroth sent back to Portland? Oh yeah that’s right, 2-1-1 records as a backup goaltender cannot be tolerated around these parts.

Up to this point, Regier must be given credit for the signing of Jordon Leopold. While he is not spectacular, he has fit the Sabres well with 13 points in his first 19 games, and a solid +4. Let’s just hope Leopold can avoid injuries that has plagued him at certain points in his career.

Ryan Callahan is mobbed by excited teammates after scoring the winner in a wild finish.

In every sense of the word, the Rangers are a T-E-A-M. Never was that more evident than in tonight’s feel good 3-2 overtime win over the Pens. Our old Patrick rival is easy to loathe. Especially because Sidney Crosby does whatever he wishes on Bettman’s sheet of ice. It’s not enough that he’s arguably the best. Perhaps the rumors about Colin Campbell’s emails are true. Maybe he ordered refs Kyle Rehman and Dan O’Halloran to invent as many calls as possible to get a hard fought game tied.

Be that as it may, what a great character win for John Tortorella’s resilient club that could’ve folded after Matt Cooke’s go-ahead marker that looked offside- touching off a Cup-like celebration by the Pens who stunned Henrik Lundqvist with two straight in 38 seconds to suddenly lead 2-1 with 86 seconds to spare. While an irate Lundqvist slammed his stick leading to an unsportsmanlike conduct after they handed Pittsburgh every power play to tie it (even if technically our PK didn’t allow Chris Kunitz’ tying marker until six seconds expired), I couldn’t take anymore shutting the TV. I had had ENOUGH of seeing the blind mice wreck a competitive game that saw our goalie at his best, making remarkable save after save leaving Crosby and Co. shaking their heads. Like they couldn’t show any leeway after one of the worst officiated periods in history.

A funny thing happened after I went upstairs to my room and vented my frustration to cool Pens’ tweep Bekah via text while lashing out on Twitter. I mean, when they handed Pitt their sixth man-advantage without one for our team with 93 seconds left, it felt over. I’d seen this script before but the games were in nightmarish Mellon Arena, which never treated our heroes kindly. The last thing I wanted to see was the Pens toy with us holding the puck before Tort pulled Lundqvist and they finish us off and laugh some more as if it were a sick, twisted plot arranged by the NHL version of Dumb and Dumber. 😛 As I noted in my final tweet on the nonsense, I don’t normally lash out at reffing. Granted. It’s been brutal. Devils-Bruins wasn’t much better. We’ll let Hasan divulge what went wrong in Beantown.

Anyway, as I was tweeting away and reading plenty of furious #NYR bloggers/fans who were just as incensed, suddenly Justin screamed at the top of his lungs through the wall: “Yeah!!!!!!!!!” At first, I didn’t believe it. But then, I asked, ‘They tied it?,’ which he and the rest of the Twitterverse confirmed. Even Bekah texted me but I was still irked, fearing the worst. I didn’t even see Marc Staal’s shorty which was wonderfully set up by an attacking Brandon Dubinsky, who dropped the puck for No.18’s high shortside shot which alluded Marc-Andre Fleury. That it came some 27 seconds later told the story. As I’ve noted, this is a T-E-A-M. Even if Sean Avery again ignited a brawl, there were plenty of teammates sans Erik Christensen who had his back. These guys fight for every inch as Al Pacino’s Coach D’Amato said in Any Given Sunday. Quit is not in their vocabulary. Finally, a Ranger team we can get behind!

Henrik Lundqvist was splendid all night finishing with 37 saves in the Rangers’ 3-2 overtime win over the Penguins.

I’ve never been prouder of a team. The heart they showed bouncing back from what would’ve been a bitter loss. Especially when King Henrik was easily the best player even if Evgeni Malkin flew all game until he and Crosby set up Kunitz’ equalizer. When our guys couldn’t get shots on Fleury with at one point the Pens holding a 20-7 edge, Lundqvist was there to deny the home team time and time again. If not for the 37 saves of which many were clutch, there’s nothing to talk about. They’d have been down two or three after a first which the Pens controlled. I’ve criticized our goalie at times in this space but he has really risen to the challenge. For him to be that sharp after missing two games is a credit to Henrik. If not for a weak call on OT hero Ryan Callahan, it’s likely his third shutout in the last six. Instead, we were left wondering if they’d even get a point after Cooke beat him shortside.

“I’ve got to stay cooler, obviously, but it felt like they got another chance after chance to get back in the game,” he pointedly said while adding: “I’m still angry—even though we scored. … I felt like it wasn’t fair, but the game is over and you just have to deal with it.“

Pretty much sums up the frustration. At least they didn’t lose, instead saying a how do you do to what’s become the standard in this dysfunctional league. When my brother yelled out another, “Yeah!!!!!!!!!!,” I still had to ask if they won. It was like I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. But it didn’t! Dubinsky again made a great play dancing around Paul Martin (can Hasan smile here) before feeding an open Callahan for what he termed, “easiest goal in the NHL.“

There are games which define you. Some are more important than others. Case in point being the giant step up in competition after destroying Edmonton. In the first, you could see the difference in talent with only Lundqvist saving us. However, our team came to play and won the second game of a back-to-back against a division rival. They did it by playing an exciting brand of hockey, trading chances with the scarier Pens. That meant plenty of work for Lundqvist, who robbed Malkin two or three times while stoning Kunitz. It meant plenty of Staal, Dan Girardi and revelation Steve Eminger in Crosby’s face, flustering him to the point where he bumped our goalie and then took down a player with of course nothing detected. Matt Gilroy pinched well and was rewarded with a helper on Christensen’s third halfway through regulation which held up all the way until Kunitz stayed with a Malkin rebound, finally solving Lundqvist with 2:31 remaining. Mike Sauer continued to show poise in important situations. Only Mike Del Zotto struggled on the back end but he still blocked three of the team’s 20 shots.

You Want To Go? Ryan Callahan and Mike Comrie talk before the draw before going. Callahan’s Gordie Howe hat trick included the OT winner.

That kind of yeoman EFFORT is what we’re used to. These guys care. They want to win for each other. I still can’t get over Cally dropping the gloves with Mr. Hilary Duff (Mike Comrie). At that point, they were being badly outplayed. Maybe it was just a wake up call. They did talk before the faceoff and then you had an unlikely duo paired up. There’s so much to admire about the future Ranger captain who never takes a shift off. No wonder it was fitting he got the winner, completing the Gordie Howe hat trick (G, A, fight). His dramatic fifth goal at 3:38 in the extra session was his first of the month, snapping a six-game drought. It couldn’t happen to a better guy.

It didn’t matter that Crosby got away with two infractions on the same shift. It didn’t matter that the Pens led in power plays 6-0. It didn’t matter that that punk Cooke swung his stick wildly after Lundqvist robbed Kris Letang with a quick glove through traffic. It didn’t even matter that Sid won as many draws (25-7) as our entire roster (25-43). Something that continues to be a problem, which at least didn’t hurt us thanks to Dubi (6-16) winning a couple of key ones late. What most mattered is that the guys wearing the home white, red and blue jerseys responded to adversity by getting the ‘W.’

They’ll go for their fourth straight against those Bruins tomorrow at home.

3rd Star-Evgeni Malkin, Pit (assist, game high 7 SOG in 27:28)
2nd Star-Ryan Callahan, NYR (OT winner at 3:38, assist, fight-Gordie Howe hat trick, 6 hits, 2 blocked shots, +1 in 20:14)
1st Star-Henrik Lundqvist, NYR (37 saves incl. 24/24 first 40 mins) 

Sean Avery gets ready to clock Ladislav Smid after waving him off, leading to a melee during the Rangers’ 8-2 win over the Oilers Sunday.

They don’t call him the Grate One for nothing. During yesterday’s home blowout win over former bench boss Tom Renney’s Oilers, Sean Avery was at it again. With the Rangers up three, the left wing caught Edmonton forward Colin Fraser with a clean shoulder hit into the boards. Simply put, there was nothing wrong with the takeout from the side that wasn’t vicious. Had it been, perhaps Fraser would’ve responded.

Instead, Edmonton teammate Ladislav Smid went after Avery, challenging him immediately. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to fight even if there was no reason for the Ranger pest to drop the gloves. Little could be gained from taking on the bigger Smid with Avery’s team leading 5-2 halfway through the third. From that standpoint, it made sense when he waved off the towering 6-3, 226 pound defenseman. Had he just skated away, nothing probably happens. However, that’s just not who he is. It came as no surprise that the 30 year-old antagonist acted like he wouldn’t go before quickly throwing the gloves down and catching Smid with a right, taking him down- setting the wheels in motion for the fireworks that followed.

Nobody is defending Avery here. His initial play was fine but he broke The Code by tricking Smid into thinking nothing would happen. It was another classless move by a player who’s very slick at hiding behind the rules. His games have turned favorite target David Clarkson into a raging maniac whenever the Devils and Rangers meet. The frustrating aspect for this loyal blue seat supporter is that Sean’s capable of fighting but rarely ever obliges. It’s always on his terms which drives opponents batty. He’s not out to make friends nor should any opponent during a match.

Hockey is a physical game filled with battles all over the ice. As Avery’s proven, it’s also an emotional one. Give him credit for being an effective player who gets underneath foes’ skin. By now, the book should be out on the Ranger bad boy. Ignore him. If only it were that simple as yesterday proved. There was no way the Oilers could stand there and not retaliate. So, it wasn’t shocking that both Ryan Whitney and Theo Peckham went after Avery, who was escorted back to the locker room. The fun/chaos was just beginning on Kids’ Day at The Garden. What should’ve been all about Marian Gaborik’s 11th career hat trick along with linemates Alex Frolov and Erik Christensen, who dominated in the 8-2 thrashing became all about Avery, who predictably didn’t speak to reporters.

“It’s a sucker punch, and I hope they look at it,” Whitney pointedly remarked. “Smid asked him to fight. (Avery) was saying wait. Then Laddie turned around and all of a sudden he gets suckered. I don’t know what the league can do with that, but it’s pretty obvious.”

“I thought it was pretty gutless,” Steve MacIntyre added after battling rival Derek Boogaard twice in the same period of a game that featured 124 penalty minutes, including 67 during the melee. “It just shows you what kind of guy he is. He’ll get his. Somebody who is bigger and tougher … he’ll get what’s coming.”

One day, it could happen. But while Avery was guilty of wrongdoing, it didn’t explain Renney losing his bench. As many as three extra Oilers were out when it escalated, getting a rise out of an energized MSG. Former Alberta rivals Zach Stortini and Brandon Prust went at it at center ice while Brian Boyle made certain an enraged Peckham didn’t get to Avery. Broadway’s version of pandemonium included a wild sequence that saw Fraser trying to engage Brandon Dubinsky, who was seated on the Ranger bench with John Tortorella wisely pulling him back.

“I didn’t want anybody on our bench being involved on it,” the cooler than normal coach remarked while refusing to comment further. “It’s embarrassing out here,” assessed Whitney of a lost day that tarnished their coach’s MSG return. “At least we’re sticking up for one another. I guess that’s the only thing you can take out of it.”

Funny but that’s probably a good adjective to describe No.16, who can be an effective player. Early on without Gaborik, he produced while teamed with rookie Derek Stepan and Ruslan Fedotenko. In fact, seven of his nine points (1-8-9) came during the club’s first eight games. Since, he’s registered only two assists including one that helped set up Artem Anisimov’s insurance marker in the second before the Rangers blitzed a disorganized Oiler club en route to seven unanswered goals. No wonder his role has decreased. What happens when Chris Drury and Vinny Prospal get back? That depends on Avery, who will always remain an enigma. Sometimes, he really stands out while others, you barely notice him.

Unfortunately for Edmonton, that wasn’t the case Sunday. You can bet they’ll have the next game against the Rangers circled on their calendar. Too bad it won’t come later this season. You’ll have to wait until Avery’s final year of his contract in ’11-12. If he’s not careful, it could be his last in the NHL. Nobody would miss his circus act.