Last season, Sean Avery made sports headlines by commenting about his ex-girlfriend Elisha Cuthbert and her relationship with Calgary Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf, earning him a six game suspension and some time in anger management classes. He essentially was cut by the Dallas Stars and made his way to the New York Rangers.
Now, nearly a year later, Sean Avery must face the team and player he mocked in the country he mocked.
Meanwhile, the Rangers, 10-6-1, are coming off a 4-2 win Thursday night against the Edmonton Oilers in a game in which they regained some offensive momentum by scoring three power play goals and seeing a goal from the slumbering Christopher Higgins who has scored his first two goals in these past two games (2-2-4 in 16GP). They finish their Northwest Division road trip (1-1 so far) against the Calgary Flames (9-4-1) in their own tiebreaker match.
Avery, who has been in a slump in a season with some injury (2-4-6 in 12GP), might have to do a little more than run his mouth like he did four nights ago in Vancouver by compelling Shane O'Brien to jab him with his stick, drawing a penalty and a one-game suspension from the defenseman. He has seen very limited ice time and was "demoted" to the fourth line against Edmonton and saw less than six minutes of ice time. He may see more play in tonight's game against the very physical Flames, although coach John Tortorella said he will be sticking with his lineup from last game, meaning Avery will again see fourth line minutes. He will need to score some points, avoid taking penalties, play good without the puck and/or bring back the old Sean and his antics, which makes him effective, if Avery wants to see more ice time.
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