ATLANTA — It was like the Bad Old Days for Sean Avery, whose reformation was overlooked last night by an officiating crew that treated No. 16 as if it were 2009 and he had just returned from serving his sentence in purgatory.
If it wasn’t one thing, it was another for Avery in the Rangers’ 3-2 loss to the Thrashers. He appeared to be yelled at throughout the match by the officiating crew, did not get a call when slashed at the end of the second period by Andrew Ladd (though John Tortorella, furious behind the bench at the time, said after the game it was not a penalty), and was cited for a bogus charge in the third.
Avery, who has had a good relationship this season with nearly all of the on-ice officials and who has been guarded with his comments, was furious after the match, worked by referees Frederick L’Ecuyer and Brad Watson and linesmen Darren Gibbs and Derek Amell.
“If the people watching the games don’t see that there are two sets of rules, one for me and one for everyone else, then I don’t know what they’re watching,” Avery told The Post. “I don’t play under the same rules as everybody else.
“When I go to [the officials] for an explanation, they tell me to [kiss] off.”
Despite the blatantly unbalanced officiating as it applied to him in this game, Avery delivered another effective effort, recording two shots and three hits in 12:21 while remaining on a line with Brian Boyle and Brandon Prust.
*
Tortorella attempted to get Marian Gaborik
as involved as possible, getting him and linemates Vinny Prospal
and Erik Christensen
on as often as he could at even-strength through the first period, along with giving No. 10 a regular penalty-killing shift with Artem Anisimov
as one of three short-handed tandems.
Though the winger failed to score for the sixth straight game and was stopped on a penalty shot by Ondrej Pavelec
at 7:36 of the third with the Rangers up 2-1, Gaborik had the puck on his stick as often as at any time this year. He was a threat on nearly every turn while picking up two assists, one off a rebound and one off a neat feed.
His line, however, had issues in the defensive zone, noted by Tortorella in his postgame press briefing. Gaborik, who had five shots on net, has one goal in his past nine games.
*
Chris Drury
, sidelined since last Saturday, underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee yesterday. The captain, who played in 23 games (0-4-4), is expected to miss approximately six weeks. Under that timetable, Drury could return for the final two weeks of the regular season.
Henrik Lundqvist
, who allowed 10 goals on 55 shots over 160:04 in his prior three games (3.73 GAA, .818 save percentage) before sitting behind Martin Biron
for the past two matches, was sharp throughout last night’s match in making 32 saves, many off scrambles and second chances around the net.
“Of course I wanted to come back and be the difference,” Lundqvist said. “It’s very disappointing to me and to all of us to lose this game the way we did, but I’m happy with the way I worked myself back into the game.
“I have to continue and be even better.”
*
When the Rangers took a 2-1 lead on Brandon Dubinsky
‘s goal at 1:11 of the third period, it marked their first lead in 256:35, since the 10:36 mark of the second period of the Garden match against the Penguins on Feb. 1. … The Rangers have led after two periods in three of their past 19 games, trailing in 12 and tied in four. … The Rangers, blanked in the first period last night, have scored one first-period goal in their past nine games while surrendering five. The Rangers’ total of 35 first-period goals in 57 games ranks 29th in the NHL, one ahead of the Capitals, who have 34 in 55 games.
Avery has gone 14 straight games without a goal; Mats Zuccarello
(9:18) has gone nine straight; and Wojtek Wolski
(11:57) has gone seven straight without scoring. Artem Anisimov
has one goal in the past 15 while Brian Boyle
has scored once in the past seven contests.