An interesting subplot emerged in Game 1 and not surprisingly it involved Sean Avery. Out of all the Capitals stars, it seems that Mike Green might be the most gullible and Avery has taken note of that. Avery and Green exchanged some big hits that went both ways, but none were bigger than when Avery crushed Green along the boards with the end result being Green face down in the Rangers players laps in their bench.

Avery also had a very 'Evil Genius' like play that may or may not have led to the Rangers first goal scored by Scott Gomez. Avery skated behind Green and while he was straddling the blue line not to go offsides, coincidentally nudged Green who spun around like a ballerina and ended up flat on his back. Was it interference? Yes. Should it have been called? No. It was incidental contact. Could Avery have done it on purpose? Probably. But everyone is quick to blame Avery and give him credit for something he may or may not have meant to do. If it were Blair Betts in Avery's place on that play, it wouldn't have been an issue.

Next time, Green needs to try to stay on his feet instead of trying to draw a penalty.

"Unfortunately the refs didn't see it...Unfortunately for us, they got some lucky shots and two of them were dumb changes by us so we've got to fix that...I thought their goalie played really well tonight and won the game for them. We can win the series
and nothing's really changed."

Do you hear that? Is that.. is that a bit of whining I detect? Lets see if Avery can get Green off his game, so far he seems to be the most susceptible to getting his panties in a twist over a little guy talking smack and throwing hits. It will surely be an interesting story line to follow.

By the way, COOL Eurohawk brah.