 |
 |
 |
|
Now it's injury on top of insult for the Rangers.
Now it's injury on top of injury on top of injury for the Rangers, who will go into the Garden tonight without Sean Avery, probably without Blair Betts, and possibly without a severely compromised Chris Drury in hoping to avoid an embarrassing second-round playoff sweep by the Penguins.
Now it's less about belief than it is about suspension of disbelief. Now it's about maintaining a semblance of dignity against a powerful opponent that has exposed and capitalized on every one of the Rangers' deficiencies.
Avery is done for whatever remains of the season with a lacerated spleen he sustained during the first period of Tuesday's Game 3, 5-3 defeat, possibly as early as 3:30 into the match when he bounced off Brooks Orpik while attempting to ride the big defenseman into the rear wall. Yet, even though injured, Avery did not miss a shift all night.
"Sean gets a lot of attention for a lot of other things, some of it fair and some of it unfair, but you can never question his competitiveness or desire," Brendan Shanahan, who could be one defeat away from the end of a 20-year, Hall-of-Fame career, said yesterday. "Sean's an incredibly gutsy player, and he takes this very personally.
"We all do."
Avery remains in ICU at St. Vincent's Hospital after having been taken to the ER immediately following the match. Avery, complained of stomach pain during the first and second intermission, then also reported shoulder pain after the game. The medical team recognized the symptoms as indicative of an injury to the spleen. Dr. Andrew Feldman accompanied Avery -who is expected to make a full recovery over the next two months - to the hospital.
Drury is questionable for tonight's match after sustaining an injury to his rib cage approximately 6:15 into Tuesday's second. After missing the remainder of the period, Drury somehow gritted his teeth through nine shifts and 6:22 in the third. He was, quite understandably, no factor.
Betts, more than doubtful for Game 4, is believed to have suffered a fractured jaw or cheekbone when struck on the side of the head by a Ryan Malone shot that forced him from the game with 7:29 remaining in the second.
As such, the Rangers' practice yesterday featured a Wolf Pack trio of Greg Moore, P.A. Parenteau and Lauri Korpikoski, the latter of whom is certain to make his NHL debut tonight as the Blueshirts begin a mountain climb that's been accomplished only twice before.
"It's not impossible," Jaromir Jagr said. "Let me tell you one thing - there's been millions of playoff series over the years, and you're going to forget a lot of them.
"You're going to remember maybe overtime of Game 7, or the Finals, but if you can do something special, people will talk about it forever.
"Outside this room, I don't think many people believe we can do it, and I don't blame them. What's important is that we believe. And I think we do."
Copyright 2007 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.
cubsfan16 
