All You Need To Know. . .

"I was ticked off at myself for two days for not fighting against Ottawa," Sean Avery said. "I went home after the game and made some calls to some people while asking myself why I'd played that way. I missed an opportunity on Sunday to help the team and I told myself I wasn't going to let it happen again. So when I had the chance, I went. It was the right time."

So apparently the difference between a boring 2-1 loss against Ottawa on Sunday and a slightly less boring 2-1 win against Minnesota on Tuesday begins and ends with Sean Avery.

If Sean shows up to play, the team follows. That's what I'm getting out of it. And as much as I admire that from Sean, it makes me question - for about the hundreth time this year - the character of most of the rest of the players on this team.

That's why Sean works here. Why he worked and why he will work.

But seriously, look at what Sean said. He was mad at himself. He went home and thought about it. Even better? He admitted, to the media, that what he did was not good enough and that it was not going to hapepn again.

Now how many times during the Tom Renney regime was I looking for anyone to admit that they played a bad game, anyone to get angry and make that anger visible?

Thank you Sean Avery.

And it was funny. Right before he set up Gomez for that goal - and a sweet goal it was - the fans were saying, let's go Avery, let's get something going. I looked down at him holding the puck on the 33rd street side and I actually believed he would, indeed, get something going.

And he did.

He has an attitude too few possess, a determination that can be seen and felt, and a charisma - the good kind - that makes everyone want to follow.

The game may have been on the boring side, but the point - the two points - remain. The Rangers won yesterday because their biggest part - arguably - wasn't going to let them lose.