Florida Wins Again, While Sean Avery Drags Rangers Down

The Florida Panthers moved into a tie with the New York Rangers today with a win against the hot Pittsburgh Penguins.  The Panthers and the Rangers both have three games remaining, and it looks very possible that the Rangers will find themselves out of playoff contention despite Sather's anxious late season moves to salvage the season.

While the Panthers have strong goaltending, and a team focused on getting the job done, the Rangers are a team distracted by the presence on Sean Avery. 

Avery's "Zen" persona didn't last long.  Excited to be given a lifeline by the only team who would take him, he played effectively in a few games.  In the past five games, however, he has not been able to keep up the pace, and his deperate need to get attention has resulted in his bringing the circus back in town. 

After sticking his finger in Cam Ward's ear during a loss against Carolina, he actually put a stick to the back of Tim Thomas' head during yesterday's game vs. the Bruins...during a timeout!  It was by no means dangerous, but Thomas was of course was livid.   When Thomas went after him Avery skaed away and cringed like a little girl, allowing a Swede stand up for him against the small goaltender. 

The incident would be reprehensible, but still not worth much disussion is it were not part of such a clear pattern.  Scott Clemensen noted that it was just a matter of time until Sean Avery either hurt someone or was hurt himself.

The league now needs to step in with yet another suspension to save the Rangers from the joke that they are becoming.  Ideally it would be for the remainder of the regular season, which is looking more and more like it could be the end of the Rangers' season altogether.

Coach Tortorella deserves better than to have to babysit Avery, and fight to keep the media away so that Avery doesn't sink deeper into his own cesspool.  He needs to focus on bringing alive the Rangers offense, which continues to make every goalie look like a Vezina trophy winner.

Sather's acquisition of Avery was a crowd pleaser, but always fraught with risk.  Now it looks like the Rangers, along with their new coach, and their shiny new rental players are all allowing the distraction that is Sean Avery to let them sink into ninth place.