New York Rangers: "Averella" Pushes Toward the Playoffs

Averella is the name name of the two-headed, fire-breathing monster that has awakened a beast from the East called the New York Rangers from a long winter's nap, grabbed it by the neck, and rag dolled it until it was ready to take a run at the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Rangers were like a sleeping dragon and now it has two heads that breathe fire, namely coach John Tortorella and the gritty, goal-getting, agitator known as "The Superpest," Sean Avery.
 
James Duthie, the host of the NHL on TSN, calls Avery plus Tortorella "Averella."
He wrote in The Ottawa Citizen recently, "Top 10 Surprises of the NHL Season" and No. 1 on his list was fiery New York Rangers' coach John Tortorella working with the aggressive Rangers' forward Sean Avery.

Duthie said that after working beside Tortorella for five months at TSN, he truly believed that if Tortorella was to coach Sean Avery, he would: "A. Throw up. B. Quit, and beg to come back to The Quiz. Or C. Spontaneously combust."

He called the relationship that has evolved between Avery and Tortorella as a "bromance for the ages" and dubbed it "Averella."

The term Averella was created in the tradition "Brangelina," a hybrid" term the media invented for celebrity couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

Averella sounds more like a villainous, two-headed, fire-breathing dragon or a monster like Godzilla.

The giant Japanese monster called Godzilla is famous for attacking New York City, thanks to the 1998 TriStar Pictures remake starring Matthew Broderick.

The American-Canadian giant monster called Averella is a hit in New York with Rangers' fans, and hated everywhere else it rears its two heads and shows its two faces.

When Rangers GM Glen Sather hired Tortorella, who was well-known for comments he made about Avery on TSN, Sather predicted Tort would learn to love him. The Rangers fans love Avery and Tortorella plays him on the Rangers' first line a lot, so things appear to be working out for them.

Averella has put the ANGER in the rANGERs and pushed the formerly slumping team into the playoffs. Lots of the Rangers who were called vanilla earlier this year are now joining Averella and turning into villains.

Can Averella—or Avery and Tortorella—keep it together long enough for a hardcore playoff run? Why are they never photographed together? Can the rest of the Rangers rise to the occasion like a giant leviathon of the deep? Can "rag doll" be used as a verb? How can other NHL teams sleep with visions of Averella in their heads?