Clarkson: Avery wouldn't fight

Devils right wing David Clarkson looked pretty silly when he was called for interference for grabbing onto Sean Avery's shirt and not letting go 10:10 into tonight's 5-0 win over the Dallas Stars.

Clarkson explained after the game that Avery yelled something at him when he skated by the Devils' bench earlier in the game and Clarkson thought that meant he wanted to fight. But Avery would not drop his gloves.

"He just skated by and said something on the bench and then I thought something was going to happen and it didn't happen," Clarkson said. "I go out there and play hard and if a guy says something to me, then I take care of it. I guess it didn't happen."

Clarkson tried to get Avery to fight again in the third period and, again, Avery would not drop his gloves. Clarkson ended up having to play without a stick -- he had dropped it -- but didn't get a penalty that time.

"I didn't want to take another penalty, but later in the game in the third I thought it was the right time and just followed him from his end all the way to mine and nothing happened," Clarkson said.

Avery did not speak to the media again after tonight's game.

No one blamed Clarkson for his behavior. In fact, his teammates and coach complimented him.

"Certain guys have certain responsibilities during the game and I think Clarkie took it upon himself to handle that situation and I think he did a great job," Devils captain Jamie Langenbrunner said. "He gave him every opportunity to do something and he chose not to and Clarkie also scores a goal too. He did a good job of taking it to him instead of the other way."

"He was doing it for the right reason," Devils coach Brent Sutter said. "We did a good job killing (the penalty) and we knew we were going to be shorthanded. Clarkie did what he thought was right for the team."

Sutter was pleased with how his team reacted to Avery in general. A few players connected on some good hits -- Dainius Zubrus, Mike Mottau and Bryce Salvador -- but, other than Clarkson, no one went out of their way.

"I thought we did a good job," Sutter said. "Our focus was to win the game first and foremost. We didn't want it to become a distraction."

***

Although you might think that getting a shutout in Avery's face would be extra pleasing for Martin Brodeur, he did accompish a bit more tonight. His shutout was the 98th of his career-- five shy of Terry Sawchuk's all-time record. He also moved within nine wins of breaking Patrick Roy's all-time wins record.

"Marty has accomplished a lot," center John Madden said. "I don't think that (getting a shutout against Avery) ranks up there in his top 25 for that matter. Just getting a shutout and getting one step closer to history is what I'm thinking about. I'm sure Marty is thinking the same thing."

Brodeur did admit he was happy to keep Avery off the scoresheet. Actually, Avery has never scored a  goal in 15 regular season games against the Devils. He did score three against Brodeur in the Rangers' five-game first-round playoff win over the Devils last spring, though.

***

The only fight of the night was between Salvador and Dallas right wing Brandon Crombeen in the third period. Crombeen was in the area when James Neal connected on a pretty good hit on Devils defenseman Paul Martin behind the New Jersey net and Salvador immediately grabbed Crombeen. Salvador won the fight and delivered a few more right hands after Crombeen dropped to the ice.

"I kind of sensed that things were running around a bit and it looked like (Crombeen) was running around a bit," Salvador said.

***

Defenseman Andy Greene had two assists tonight and was plus-2 for the game. He has three points (one goal, two assists) in the last three games after being a healthy scratch for the first three games of the season. The Devils also posted two shutouts in the three games he's played.

"He played really well again tonight," Sutter said.

Sutter was also happy with the way rookie Petr Vrana played in his second NHL game. Vrana did not have any points and played 16 shifts for 10:50 in ice time. Vrana played only 7:02 on Saturday in Washington.

"I thought he played well tonight," Sutter said. "I thought he made plays. He's a smart player. You've got to be an intelligent player to play the game today the way the game is being played and he's a very intelligent player. He makes plays. Some of the plays he made offensively were very good plays and his awareness in his own zone was very good, too."

Comments

[GG]

Ugh...can we move on from hearing about this clown now?

[Pearl Jammed(RJ Arditti)]

i love the fact that Avery was basically a non factor in this game

[jules]

Did anyone really expect Avery to fight?

Had to love the "Avery sucks" and "Marty's better" chants though.

[DanT]

this is what i love to see. proto devils hockey. good hustle. patience. relaxation. team play. so far this season i cant even count how many players are doing what is needed.

im very confident.

zubs had a great game with his hitting. zaj is confident. elias is also back....... i could go on and on and on,

[TG]

Not to rain on the parade because the Devils did play fairly well tonight, but the Stars' goaltending was pretty putrid.

[DanT]

they played great. momentum is a fancy beast. the first 2 periods were quite lopsided in shots.

perhaps the planets aligned tonight. im not too high on it. but i will enjoy the win knowing there are still many games left. it could go all wrong vs philly twice this weekend but there is not sense in diminshing what they did tonight considering the recent injuries. i like what im seeing so far all things considered.

dallas goalies putrid? yes, because the devils as a team made them look that way.

credit due.

[aarrgghhhh]

I agree about the goaltending. Turco was off and the backup had no control over what was going on, whatsoever. He was so bad handling the puck and controling rebounds that he drew two penalties against us because of the chaos he was creating.

[Hotdogs]

this kind of rhymes......ZAJAC IS BACK!!!!

[Steve]

i can't remember the last time the devil's forecheck has looked so good. It's been a fairly constant factor so far and we've created a lot of scoring opportunities because of it. I hope the energy level stays this high the whole season

[Brodie30]

@TG - I take it the NHL doesn't fine players for not talking to the media like in football?

[Puckster]

The Devils played an amazing game for a full 60 minutes. Very impressive effort tonight.

[David]

It looked as if Dallas management said something to Avery. He wasn't even playing Sean Avery hockey, he wasn't really going into corners or hitting anyone, when he carried the puck he was trying to dstick handle around people. There were 2 or 3 times when there were offsides called because he tried making an extra move on the blue line. It almost looked as if he was scared, he wasn't going into corners and banging around.

[Falcone]

Great game all around. I see something different with the guys now compaired to earlier in the year. Perhaps its confidence, perhaps guys are more comfortable, but we're really playing well at this point.

Our D played well, good job for Andy Greene. He's gonna stay in the line up as long as he's putting points on the board.

Parise and Zajac are definitely on the same page and Travis is really starting to find his game this season. Zack is constantly around the net and producing points. Really pumped about these two guys.

The big guys played well. Good for Leblond getting his first point and Ruppy is really playing solid on the 4th line.

[OC]

Devils hockey for 60 minutes.

Been waiting to see that all year.

Forecheck was good, defense was tough, Marty made saves when needed to.

Yea, that's what we've been missing.

[Scott E]

This is one of those times when everyone, even the announcers, were really on their game. Going into a commercial break in the third period, Mike Emrick recapped the score as "Devils by a fistful". Oh, how I longed to hear Mike Miller's familiar radio voice shouting "And it's FIVE! NOTHING! NNNNNNNNEWJERSEYYYYYYYY!!" Does anyone know how he's been doing lately?

[Pearl Jammed(RJ Arditti)]

TG is right though, Turco was WAY off last night, and they were simply aweful in thier own zone last night when it came to puck possession. Also their passing in their own zone was the only thing worse than their goaltending IMO. The team looked good for the most part. I personally thought Colin White did not have such a good game.
Still have to wonder how long it will be before some people on here will be begging us to trade half the roster for Bouwmeester though.
Did anyone see highlights of the Flyers game? even when they score 6 goals they still can't win!!

[tyler]

Not sure how on their game the announcers were. One of them (I honestly can't recall which, but I'd assume Chico since he always sides with the goalies) claimed that he thought Turco had played pretty well as he was getting pulled?!

If Dallas management said something to Sean Avery, they better have another conversation with him soon. They're not paying him all that $$$ to play like he has the last two games. He didn't play with any sort of edge against the Devils or the Rangers.

[brian s]

clarkson was real minor league in my opinion.i am shocked there was not some sort of criticism from sutter. i just want the defense to continue to control the area in front of the net,like they did with dallas, for the rest of the year. it really made a difference in the game. why did white make 2 really dumb plays. both leading to point blank shots on marty. wake up sir! great 55 minute effort by the devils! the first 5 minutes of the second period were a bit shaky there for a bit. great game. mad dog great. zajac great two game tonight. devils hockey baby!

[JJ]

In the immortal words of Mr. Wolf "Let's not start ******* each other's ****'* just yet", TG is right the Stars goaltending was terrible. The Devils did play a good game but it was hardly as dominant as the score reflected. Turco lost his angle on Madden's first goal and he might as well have shot Madden's 2nd goal in himself. Clarkson's goal never should've gone in either. The score could've just as easily been 1-0 heading into the third period and with the pressure of an early penalty to kill in the third it could've been a completely different story. But that's hockey and it's why we love the sport so much.

The PP needs a LOT of work. Atrocious and predictable shot choices, stupid blind passes to nowhere or away from players that allow the opponent to get a step or two to close their gaps, lack of communication, I could go on. I just don't know what we are trying to do out there sometimes. I can just imagine his response to a question about why the Rupp line was on PP in the third "Why not? The rest of the guys aren't doing anything!"

Oh yeah I almost forgot we won 5-0! The defense was very solid aside from a couple of bad turnovers by this blog's whipping boy de la saison; Monsieur Blanc. Marty was able to see the vast majority of shots because they are doing all the right things out there. EXCELLENT puck pursuit by numerous players but standouts were Zubrus, Rupp, Madden & Zajac IMO. The team had the hunger and drive they must have in order to get where we want to be at the end of the season. I hope we can use these injuries as a motivator (one that lasts) and make Sutter's job tough as to who to sits and who plays when Holik & Rollie come back.

[mikeschoenf]

all around good effort by the Devils... i really cant believe Avery does all this yapping but he wont even fight... i wish clarkson would have just pounded his face in even if he didnt fight back.. i mean he got two minutes.. could have just upped it to 5.. (like mara from the rangers did last week to somebody..?).
I was a Mottau supporter going in to the season but he has showed me nothing... I was also complaing about Colin White before the season.. and he too has showed me nothing.. actually not nothing.. he hurts the Devils.. and almost cost Marty a shutout. seriously the guy really is terrible and he scares me every time he is on the ice.

[mikeschoenf]

one last comment.. this "Marty's better" chant has to go.. its almost acknowledging somebody can be compared to him...Marty is the best EVER!! so when you chant Marty's better.. who is he better then? He is better then EVERYONE! I really dont get the chant at all..

[wolfcaster]

I thought Gio played really well in that game, he was all over the puck, he may not be scoring now, but he really showed me a lot last night

[Guy]

I wouldnt get too excited there Wolf. That was pretty much the story of Gio's career, save for 05-06. steady player, but will not put up too many numbers.

[Spleens]

the way I saw it, Turco should've had Lagenbrunner's goal. That one I still can't see going in. Madden's first seemed like it was just a good goal, and the Dallas D didn't try to help out Turco on Madden's second. Turco pushed the rebound towards a guy in a white shirt, but he had his back to the play and let Madden skate right in and put it in without much resistance. The goalie switch I saw as the coach trying to spark his team to start trying to play better, and save for the two goals given up in the third, I felt that it did work out that way. I missed both of the goals against the backup, but the guy's played in all of two NHL games prior to relief duty yesterday... can't fault him if he gave up bad goals. The Devils worked hard for their success and never sat back and let Turco start feeling confident between the pipes, like they tend to do against many other goaltenders.

So although Turco didn't play well yesterday, the Devils did a lot of things right in scoring the goals too. I know no one has blatantly said it yet, but you don't just stumble across five goals and call it a fluke.

[Jeff]

The marty's better Chant dates back to the 2000 Playoffs when the Dallas fans started chanting Marty's better for Turco and Devil fans adopted it as we spanked them in game 1 so it was very appropriate for the Stars.