Following Sunday night’s shootout victory in Toronto in which Rangers’ winger Sean Avery recorded a Gordie Howe hat trick (goal, assist, fight), there were more than a few rumblings out of the Maple Leaf dressing room concerning the pint-sized pest. Via Monday’s Toronto Sun:

“He’s pissing guys off,” [Toronto's Wade] Belak said yesterday. “He’ll bring harm to himself and not too many guys around the league are going to be sad to see it.

“If he keeps this up, someone is going to kill him. One day he’s going to say something the wrong way and he’ll be clubbed.

However, the most inflammatory statements concerning the testy matchup came from Toronto radio host Howard Berger of the Fan 590. Berger – citing an anonymous Ranger teammate no less – alleged that Avery had incited a pregame scuffle with insulting remarks about current Leaf and former Islander Jason Blake’s battle with cancer. Blake was diagnosed with a rare but treatable form of leukemia after signing with Toronto in the offseason. Avery denies the allegations and is pursuing legal action against the radio station. In a prepared statement, Avery cited the scars that cancer has left on his own family, and the charity work he has done with various cancer-related groups.

Contrary to the radio report, which also stated that Avery’s anonymous teammate wanted to “strangle” him upon hearing his alleged taunts, Avery’s teammates appear to be squarely in his corner. Via the Post’s Dan Tomasino:

“It’s not true,” Ranger teammate Brendan Shanahan said yesterday after practice, which Avery missed to attend a meeting with NHL VP Colin Campbell in Toronto to discuss the player’s habit of instigating ugly pregame incidents.

“He didn’t say that, and that was confirmed by Toronto players.”

Shanahan also spoke of the role he personally plays in reining in Avery’s antics on the ice and playing along a thin line without actually crossing over it. Ironically, Darcy Tucker, Avery’s primary antagonist on Sunday night, is known for playing along that same line, and arguably to uglier ends. While Avery is castigated largely for his mouth on the ice, Tucker has been accused of dirty hits and intent to injure on numerous occasions (as Islanders fan know well). Via the Star:

While some observers dismissed the exchange between Tucker and Avery as a fit of pique between two similar players who deserve each other, the Leafs winger took issue with how he is being portrayed.

Tucker admits he crossed the line of on-ice propriety during his early days in the league. But, he said, after Campbell pointed out to him that his behaviour was unbecoming an NHLer, he said he has made an effort to tone down his act.

“I think I’ve learned from my mistakes over the years and I’ve made a conscious effort to try to be better at not taking it over that line.”

The NHL, meanwhile, levied fines to both teams in wake of the incident. As the league holds its franchises responsible for the conduct of their players, the Rangers were fined $25,000, while the Leafs were fined $10,000. Avery was also fined $2,500 and Tucker $1,000.

“The unprofessional conduct of Avery in initiating this altercation, less than a week after being involved in an incident in the pre-game warm-up against New Jersey, is the basis for this discipline,” said NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell in a statement released by the league.

Perhaps fittingly, the Rangers will play their first game since Sunday’s fireworks tonight when they visit the Devils’ new arena in Newark for the first time.