[Note by Jim Schmiedeberg, 04/18/11 1:11 PM EDT Maybe Bruce was just upset because the Garden wouldn't sell him ice cream at 10 AM? Only one thing to do, make it even louder Wednesday night.

"Well, the one thing, its reputation is far better than the actual building," the coach said. "I mean, it’s nothing. The locker rooms are horrible. The benches are horrible. There’s no room for anything. But the reputation of being in Madison Square Garden is what makes it famous. Also, our building’s a lot louder, too. So I mean, they can say what they want, but it’s not that loud in there." 

Boudreau has been yapping quite a bit in the last half-day or so about the Rangers physical play in game 3, the officiating, and now MSG (item 2 seem pretty rich coming from someone in that organization, but that's neither here nor there). He seems like a pretty good dude and he's probably just trying to create a bit of a distraction to take some pressure off of his club...but if I'm MSG, this is scoreboard material. 

As far as his building goes: I'm sorry but this is not even up for debate. Aside from that awful horn those people mindlessly chant to all game long, the ridiculous outrage over every offsides whistle, and the howling PA announcer, the noise levels just don't compare. I'll give the Capitals credit for filling their building in recent years, but I don't seem to remember anyone "rocking the red" - or the blue - before Ovechkin and Co. made the team relevant. I remember going to a game down there during the Jagr era and seeing thousands of empty seats that they couldn't pay people to occupy. I'll take John Amirante, Dancin' Larry, and the blue seaters over those jokers in DC any day, and I'd be willing to bet that that's a pretty common view throughout the league.

Thoughts?

Did anybody hear the Pittsburgh announcers rant about Avery last night? I would NEVER have listened to those clowns, but I was away and could only get the home team's feed on my computer. Anyway, they went on about how Avery is by far the dirtiest and most shameful player in the NHL, and said that he would literally "rip the stitches" out of an opponents face for kicks. I can't believe some of these guys (Boston, Washington, and Buffalo also come to mind); there was absolutely no fairness in discussing any of the non-penalties against Pittsburgh - they would harp on and on about how Lundqvist should've gotten an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for going after Crosby in the third. 

As far as I'm concerned, Pittsburgh fans and announcers do not get to complain about Sean Avery as long as that criminal Matt Cooke is on the roster. Rant over. 

““It’s pretty obvious what the guy was doing,” Avery said. “But I’m sure nothing will happen to him. … Nothing ever happens. It was pretty obvious what happened. You guys saw it, right? It’s interesting that you’d get a warning for something like that. Can you imagine if I did something like that? They sent me to rehab last time I did something.” - Sean Avery on James Wiesniewski

This really bugs me. I know what Avery is and what he isn't. Is he a piece of garbage who runs his mouth and annoys people? Yes. Would I want to kill him if I ever had to interact with him on an everyday basis? Yep. However, he is NOT - unlike about 15% of the NHL - a cheapshot artist to spends his time running around the ice trying to hurt people, like Matt Cooke and Patrick Kaleta. And yet it is Avery rather than Cooke, Kaleta, and many others who is treated like a felon by the referees. I don't even care that much about the Wiesniewski thing; I mean, it was actually pretty funny...but the point is that it if had been Avery, Herr Bettman would've thrown Avery back into whatever padded room he keeps reserved for him at NHL headquarters.

But hey, whatever, no big deal if Matt Cooke knocks Marc Savard out for two seasons, right? It's perfectly cool as long as he didn't insult his girlfriend beforehand.