Rangers-Flyers: Things Level 1-1 After First Period in Playoff Style Game

Sean Avery and the New York Rangers (35-25-8) were tied with Daniel Carcillo and the Philadelphia Flyers (36-20-10) by a score of 1-1 at the end of the first period.

Avery's line with Scott Gomez and Ryan Callahan returned as the Rangers top line after they led the Rangers to victory against the Nashville Predators in their last game.

Sean Avery is as good as any Ranger playing, doing the things the Rangers have to do, even though he's a target for opponents, referees, opponents, and fans.

On the first play of the game, Aaron Asham lined up against Avery and hit him right away. Avery and Asham fought last year when the Rangers beat the New Jersey Devils in the first round of the playoffs.

The Rangers second line saw captain Chris Drury with big Nik Antropov and Lauri Korpikoski. Antropov got the first hit of the game. On his second shift, Antropov scored, unassisted, to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead.

It was a goal-scorer's goal and it came when the Flyers were outshooting the Rangers 5-3.

New York's penalty killers had no problem handling the Flyers power play after Marc Staal took a tripping penalty. Jeff Carter got called for tripping halfway through the period, the Rangers didn't score on their power play either.

Colton Orr—lined up against the Flyers new enforcer, Daniel Carcillo, who leads the NHL in penalties—had a good chance to score but the Flyers goalie, Martin Biron.

The Flyers tied it up at 16:34 when Scott Hartnell scored.

Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist looked sharp in his first game since setting an NHL record with his 30th win for his fourth consecutive season.

The game in Philly is the first of a back-to-back series featuring the teams with the top two agitators in the NHL. Avery led the NHL in penalties for two years and then Carcillo took over.

Tomorrow's game in New York is the NBC's Game of the Week.

Just a couple of week ago, there were complaints that the New York Rangers were too vanilla. They had a player-friendly coach in Tom Renney and were led by everybody's All-American, Chris Drury. A long slump took them from the top of their division to a position out of the playoffs.

Things have changed so much for the Rangers they are now considered a Cinderella team.

Firey John Tortorella was hired to replace the fired Rangers coach. Sean Avery was brought up from the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL, after anger management and the Dallas Stars. And the Rangers traded to get big Nik Antropov and Derek Morris.

The Rangers have won four out of five with Avery in the line up.