By The Daily News
Devils goalie Martin Brodeur laughed off Sean Avery's unusual attempt to distract him during Sunday night's Game 3 of the Eastern Conference first-round series at the Garden, but the NHL certainly did not.
After seeing Avery plant himself in front of Brodeur and wave his hands and stick in the goalie's face as the Devils tried to defend a 5-on-3 that eventually resulted in a goal by Avery, NHL director of hockey operations Colin Campbell made it clear yesterday that such faceguarding will be penalized from now on.
"An unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalty will be interpreted and applied, effective immediately, to a situation when an offensive player positions himself facing the opposition goaltender and engages in actions such as waving his arms or stick in front of the goaltender's face, for the purpose of improperly interfering with and/or distracting the goaltender as opposed to positioning himself to try to make a play," Campbell said in statement.
Avery, who has a long history of run-ins with Brodeur, camped out in front of the crease and put on a show reminiscient of a grade schooler playing an "I'm not touching you" game. Rangers forward Chris Drury told Avery to keep his stick down, trying to prevent a disallowed goal because of the high stick, but Avery wound up scoring on a regular shot and no penalty was ever called.
The screen, the battle, the goal. Keep your eyes on Brodeur and Avery on the right.
The screen, the battle, the goal. Keep your eyes on Brodeur and Avery on the right.
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