James Wisniewski Makes Obscene Gesture Toward Sean Avery

Two years ago, while playing for the Dallas Stars, Sean Avery assembled an impromptu press conference for the sole purpose of insulting then-Calgary Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf for dating his ex-girlfriend, Elisha Cuthbert. The NHL's wheel of justice was not kind to Avery, suspending him six games and unintentionally creating a measuring stick for the randomness of NHL discipline.

Avery, of course, is no stranger to controversy, and during Monday's matinee game between the Rangers and Islanders -- a 6-4 Islanders win -- the shoe was on the other foot as Islanders defenseman James Wisniewski made an obscene gesture in Avery's direction.

This is one of those times when the moving pictures are worth 1,000 words.

Update: James Wisniewski Receives 2-Game Suspension for Gesture
Christopher Botta: Despite Childish Act, NHL Went Too Far in Two-Game Ban

Yup. So that happened. How the NHL deals with this is certainly going to be interesting. If a sex joke is worthy of six games, what will the result of this be?

Your move, NHL. And speaking of which, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is in attendance for Monday's game.

UPDATE: Our Chris Botta is at Monday's game and passes along the following video of Bettman talking about the incident. In short: He didn't see it.

Following the game Wisniewski wrote the episode off as simply "two teams playing hard." Said Wisniewski: "He was doing his thing. I was doing mine."

Islanders head coach Scott Gordon bailed on his press conference when the topic came up. "I think there's more to this game than that," said Gordon. When the coach was asked if he thought Wisniewski would be suspended and if he saw the play, he left the podium.

"It's pretty obvious what the guy was doing," said Avery in the Rangers' locker room after the loss. "I'm sure nothing will happen to him. Nothing ever happens. It's interesting he'd get a warning for something like that. Imagine what would happen if I did it. They (the NHL) sent me to rehab."