Avery’s four point night leads Rangers over Stars
/Andrew's Dallas Stars Page
Sean Avery broke out of his slump Wednesday night and helped keep the Dallas Stars in theirs. Avery snapped a 19-game goal scoring drought and added three assists in leading the New York Rangers to a 5-2 over the Stars, who have now lost three straight games in regulation for the first time this season.
"He played well," Stars coach Marc Crawford said of Avery. "He had no impact on our guys' lack of execution. That would be giving him far too much credit. Give him credit on fashion."
The Stars dropped to 1-6-3 in their last ten games on the road and have been outscored 42-21 during that stretch. They are 3-9-3 in their last 15 on the road.
Key areas let the Stars down on this night. They didn't get key saves from goalie Marty Turco, who allowed four goals on 24 shots. The power play went 0-6 and missed on a 54 second five-on-three with the Rangers holding a 3-2 lead late in the second period. And then there were defensive mistakes that allowed the Rangers to extend that one goal lead and put the game away.
On the other side, Henrik Lundqvist stopped 25 of 27 shots and came up with key saves at key times, stopping James Neal and Jamie Benn with the Rangers holding a one goal lead.
Then there was Avery, who played only 23 games with the Stars last season after signing a four-year, $15.5 million contract with the team in the summer of 2008. The Stars cut ties with Avery after he was suspended for making rude comments about a former girlfriend.
Avery had a hand in the Rangers' first four goals and was constantly jawing with Stars players, many of whom were his teammates last season.
"Certainly I’m happy with the game and the way that I played, but If I start doing this on a consistent basis, then it’s something to get happy about.," said Avery, who is still getting paid by the Stars as well as the Rangers. "It’s the way that Sean Avery needs to play. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and that’s just the way it has to happen for me to be effective. I’ve got to stay consistent with it.”
After the Stars took an early lead on a Brad Richards goal, Avery answered on the power play by beating Turco with a shot from the left circle. He set up a Marian Gaborik goal that put the Rangers up 2-1 and assisted on an Ales Kotalik goal that put the Rangers up 3-2 after Jere Lehtinen had tied the game early in the second.
He made a great move along the boards to slip Stars defenseman Matt Niskanen and set up a Chris Drury goal in the third period to put the Rangers up 4-2.
"It is a pretty good night when you have four points against a team that didn't want you a year ago," Lundqvist said.
The Rangers improved to 7-1-2 over their last ten games.
| Ribeiro injured |
|
Stars center Mike Ribeiro was
taken to a New York hospital after he took a stick to the throat
in the second period of Wednesday night's game. Ribeiro was
checked out by doctors and released. He will spend the night in
New York and, if everything is fine, he will fly back to Dallas
on Thursday.
"They have him at the hospital making sure everything is OK after taking the stick in the throat. They are checking to make sure everything is all right in his airways," Stars coach Marc Crawford told reporters after the game. Ribeiro was injured at 15:32 of the second period as he and Rangers forward Christopher Higgins crossed paths in the neutral zone. The stick of Higgins, who apparently didn't see Ribeiro, caught the Stars center in the throat area. Higgins was given a minor penalty for high sticking. “If there’s an injury on the play, you’re supposed to get four minutes,” Crawford said. “They didn’t think it was a severe enough injury. That’s tough for them to call.” |
| Turning points |
|
| Game Recap |
|
The Stars got the early lead
in the game, scoring on an odd-man rush. As Jere Lehtinen drove
the net, a Brad Richards centering pass hit the rear end of
Rangers defenseman Marc Staal and bounced past New York goalie
Henrik Lundqvist 2:17 into the game.
But the Rangers tied the game by cashing in on their first power play chance of the night. Sean Avery took a pass from Matt Gilroy and beat Stars goalie Marty Turco with a shot off the rush from the left circle at the 5:39 mark. New York got the lead at 15:47 of the first when Avery put a pass into the slot and Marian Gaborik backhanded the puck under Turco's pad to make it a 2-1 game. The Stars tied it at 2:07 of the second when Richards set up Jere Lehtinen, whose shot from the slot hit a Rangers defender and got by Lundqvist. The Rangers got the lead back at 8:23 of the second when Alex Kotalik scored on Turco with a shot from just inside the blue line. The Stars got a 54 second five-on-three power play with about four-and-a-half minutes to go in the second, but couldn't take advantage. Richards hit the post with a shot and Lundqvist made a big save on Neal on the five-on-four part of the power play to keep it a 3-2 game. Avery came up with another assist to make it a 4-2 game in the third. He skated into the Dallas zone, shook Stars defenseman Matt Niskanen along the boards and sent the puck to the net, where Chris Drury tapped it home at 8:57 of the third. Stars defenseman Karlis Skrastins made the defensive play of the game when he made a diving stop on Erik Christensen, who had an open net after Turco was caught out of position. That kept it a 4-2 game. But the Stars couldn't get any closer. Ryan Callahan scored into any empty net late in the game to round out the scoring. |
| Quotable |
|
"I was getting paid by two teams." Rangers
forward Sean Avery, when asked what was different for him
Wednesday night. "I would have loved to have seen that delinquent do that for us last year. I didn't think (four points) was possible. He has a good shot and he always has worked hard. His intelligence on the ice has always been an issue, and was with us when he was here." - Stars goalie Marty Turco. “I am happy for Sean. He gave us some really good minutes. He’s an important part to our hockey club when he plays on edge and plays a north-south game. I thought he was very efficient with that tonight.” - Rangers head coach John Tortorella. “We battled our tails off tonight. We kill off all those penalties and our defense does a great job, and Matt Niskanen goes out and gets beat like he’s playing in a different league.” - Stars head coach Marc Crawford on the Rangers' goal that made it a 4-2 game. |
| Game Links |
| Game Summary | Event Summary |
