In 2006 the Rangers entered the playoffs for the first time since the 1996/97 season. They were very familiar with their first round opponent and knew they had to come out and play tough hockey. Even Jaromir Jagr came out hitting.

But they couldn’t match the Devils’ toughness or intensity. This was obvious to everyone when Jagr separated his shoulder throwing a hit on then Devil Scott Gomez during the first game of the series. For the remainder of the short series, they were swept in four games, they were left with no fire power.

This time around things were much different. The Rangers stacked up against the Devils in almost every way. They had better offense, better defense, and even the better goalie. They also had one other important ingredient which made the difference in the series; they had Sean Avery.

Avery made a big difference in a number of ways and most important were his dogged attacks on Martin Brodeur. Avery was in his face nearly the entire series and by the end Brodeur looked worn down in the face of the pest. Avery did this by parking himself in front of the net each time his team had the puck in the offensive zone. Avery, who plays a very physical game, bumped and antagonized the goalie as much as possible. Every time he was pushed to the ice in front of the net it seemed like he came down on top of the veteran goaltender. In game four he even ignored a two-man advantage to block Brodeur’s view of the ice.

After the series ended the Devil’s head coach Brent Sutter had this to say, “To some degree, he looked tired mentally.”

It wasn’t just Brodeur who Avery rattled. He antagonized the entire team to the point where the defense would forget everyone else on the ice to go after him as much as possible. Evidence of this could be seen early in the series, but there is no better example than on Scott Gomez’s goal in game five.

On a powerplay toward the end of the first period Avery got the puck behind the net and with no better play he skated to the front of the net in a wrap around attempt. At that moment at least four Devil skaters collapsed around Avery. He got the initial shot off but because everyone was busy trying to bump him Gomez was able to sneak in behind Avery and score the goal which put New York up 3-1.

Many times it seemed like the Devils were piling on a little too much and getting away with it. They were trying to get him to take retaliatory penalties which would have put his team at a disadvantage and also would have provided Brodeur with a break. But Avery did a great job staying cool taking only two non-coincidental penalties, both for goalie interference, during the series.

“I just try to keep my head on straight and play through it,” said Avery. “I know there’s going to be times when I think there should be a penalty called and there’s not and you keep going this is the playoffs, you just battle. You just got to bite your lip sometimes.”

Avery made a pest out of himself so much during the series that events like this weren’t uncommon at all. Many times when Avery was on the ice players like David Clarkson, Michael Rupp, Bryce Salvador, and John Madden were too busy trailing Avery looking for a big hit they were often ignoring Gomez or Jagr. This allowed Gomez in particular to have a big series. Gomez had seven points in five games and Jagr had eight points including three on the powerplay with Avery.

Avery himself was able to shake off the Devils constant attempts to remove his head and had himself a good series. He had a goal in each of the first three games and managed a pair of assists for a grand total of five points.

When the series was over perhaps the best way to show how much Avery affected the Devils was when Brodeur refused to shake his hand at center ice. Most of the other Devils shook his hand, but when Brodeur approached he wouldn’t even look at the Rangers winger.