It was only a matter of time until Rangers enforcer/resident bad guy Sean Avery re-asserted himself as a resident enforcer/bad guy. Now we know that the gestation period for Avery to get back to his old tricks was one month, with the instigator clocking Boston goalie Tim Thomas on the head after a stoppage of play 31 days after re-joining the Rangers.

It was a pretty lowball move, particularly since he pulled it off in classic Sean Avery style; by being overtly brash and then pretending he didn’t do anything at all. Naturally, because he chose to attack Thomas, one of the more fiery goalies in the league, he didn’t get away with it. Not only did Avery get a full recompense from Thomas, he earned himself a penalty in the process, which is standard operating procedure for his gimmicks.

The Bruins won the game, and Thomas won the fight, even though he, too, received a two-minute penalty for chasing down Avery and, well, trying to kill him. He’s not the first one to do so, but he certainly attacked Avery with a lot more vigor than most.

To stop 31 New York shots in the game; that was the true victory for Thomas. Though, that charge on Avery and blocker to the face of Fredrik Sjostrom has to come pretty close, too, doesn’t it?