Many sports writers said Sean Avery helped spark the New York Rangers' win in first game back with the New York Rangers, but their new coach, John Tortorella gave the credit to goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who made 28 saves for his 28th vicory this season.
"I thought Lundqvist was outstanding," Tortorella was quoted in the Daily News. "It was an ugly win," he said.
He added that "good teams win when they're not playing that well, and I thought we did that tonight."
Although other reporters said Avery was just what the Rangers needed, Michael Obernauer of the Daily News said the Rangers were just happy with what Avery didn't do rather than anything he did.
He quoted Tortorella saying, "We allowed him to play, and he did a good job of just maintaining his discipline, and that's a step in the right direction."
The Daily News made Nikolai Zherdev the hero on the night the Rangers won with three new players in their line-up.
He said Zherdev rescued Avery from his first skirmish, and got a penalty for it. Zherdev later scored a goal and set up another.
He called the Rangers "wobbly" and their victory "tenuous".
The Rangers took the season series from the Islanders 5-1, had their first win on the road under their new coach, and put together back-to-back wins for the first time since a pair of victories spanning the All-Star break.
In the two wins, they have scored as many goals as they did in their previous six games combined. The Rangers were slumping so badly, they fired coach Tom Renney, brought back Avery, and traded for Nik Antropov and Derek Morris at the NHL Trade Deadline.
The Daily News said Avery's best work was getting smooshed against the glass from behind by Trent Hunter, leading to the third-period power play that helped the Rangers put the Isles away.
The Rangers' got goals once again from their top guns—Zherdev, Chris Drury, Scott Gomez and Markus Naslund. Zherdev started the scoring. Zherdev set up Gomez on a 2-on-1 49 seconds into the third to provide what turned out to be the game-winner.
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