Avery Fights And Assists Rangers In Win Over Wild

Sean Avery got in his first scrap since rejoining the New York Rangers in the NHL, and recorded an assist to lead his team to a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Wild at Madison Square Garden tonight.

Avery now has seven points in seven games.

The Rangers jumped into a sixth place tie with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference with 86 points.

Minnesota remains one point out of eighth place in the West.

The Rangers starting lineup of Avery, Ryan Callahan, and Scott Gomez set the pace of the game. On the first shift, the Rangers first line got off to a quick start, the way the Rangers like to roll these days.

The Wild's game plan calls for a conservative, tight-checking game as they rely too heavily on their goaltender to win them games.

Avery also injected some emotion into the game, agitating Nick Schultz, and then fighting with Cal Clutterbuck.

Avery got into his first scrap since rejoining the Rangers and the NHL when he dropped his gloves with Clutterbuck, who leads the NHL in hits.

In 70 games with the Wild over two years, Clutterbuck has eight goals, five assists, 13 points, and has 68 penalty minutes.    

They dropped their helmets, too, following the old code of the NHL and not the new trend recommended by the OHL and the London Hockey Concussion Summit 2009.

Words behind the Wild net led to the fight. They both got five minutes in the penalty box.

Colton Orr and Aldlen Nolan had a scrap shortly after the Avery/Clutterbuck fight. Orr got seven minutes and Nolan got five.

With four seconds left in the first period, Nik Zherdev looked like Mario Lemieux scoring a goal with a hard shot from an almost impossible angle. The first period ended with the Rangers ahead by one goal, one fight, and seven shots (10 to 4).

At the start of the second period, Marian Gorbik tied it up for the Wild. Gaborik recently returned to the Wild’s lineup after hip surgery. He has played in only seven games all season.

Gomez scored less than a minute after that with Avery and Zherdev getting assists. The bullet by Gomez came after a great play by Zherdev and Avery. It was the sixteenth goal of the season for Gomez and his seventh game-winner.

Mike Sauer, from Minnesota, playing in his first NHL game against the Minnesota Wild, replaced the injured Michal Rozsival, looked right at home on the Rangers blueline and joining in the rush.

Sauer played with Avery recently while with the Hartford Wolf Pack in the AHL. Sauer got a shot on his first shift and missed the net. The Wild had just one shot on net in the first 10 minutes.

Sauer played a very strong game for the Rangers with 15 minutes of ice-time.

The Rangers led 1-0 after the first period and 2-1 after the second. The Rangers out-shot the Wild 30 to 19.

Zherdev got two points and was the first star of the game. Avery was second star.

After this evening’s contest, the Rangers hit the road for the rest of the week, going to Atlanta and then Pittsburgh to face-off with the Penguins.