The Avery Factor

Washington Capitals Hockey

While much of the credit to the Rangers turnaround can be credited to John Tortorelli, one can't overlook what the acquisition of Avery has meant to the Rangers. I watched a Ranger games a while back, and the team seemed dead in the water. The Rangers exhibited little in the way of energy on the ice, and it appeared as if they would suffer the ignominy of missing the playoffs after having one of the best starts in team history. Watching the Rangers over the last couple of weeks, I saw a different team. It was a team that seemed to have an 'edge' once again, and much of it could be contributed to Sean Avery. Although he's known as much for his mouth as his performance on the ice, the guy brings more to the game than just the ability to get under people's skins. He not only possesses some decent offensive ability but also has one of the better +/- ratings on the team. There's little doubt that Avery will try and target some of the young Capitals stars such as Ovechkin and in particular Semin to try and get them off of their game. The Caps will have to avoid taking retaliatory penalties against the Rangers provocateur extraordinaire if they want to have success against the Rangers.

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