Rangers' Avery released from hospital

New York Rangers forward Sean Avery was released from a hospital Sunday morning, five days after suffering a season-ending spleen injury in a playoff game.

Avery was in intensive care at St. Vincent's Medical Center from the time he was admitted Tuesday night, shortly after New York's Game 3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, until Saturday because of a lacerated spleen, Rangers spokesman John Rosasco said.

He left the hospital one day later, just hours before the Rangers' 3-2 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The 28-year-old agitating winger is believed to have been injured during the early portion of Tuesday's 5-3 loss at Madison Square Garden. Avery took seven shifts in the first period, five in the second, and seven in the third.

JAGR NOT SURE OF FUTURE: Maybe it was 36-year-old Jaromir Jagr's last game with the New York Rangers. It almost certainly wasn't Jagr's last hockey game.

Jagr, a five-time NHL scoring champion, is facing an uncertain future after the Rangers' season-ending 3-2 overtime loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday in Game 5 of their second-round playoff series.

Though his contract carries into next season only if he wins the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs MVP, almost an impossibility now that New York is eliminated, he plans to keep playing hockey.

"[My] last game? I don't think I'm going to retire from hockey," Jagr said after getting 15 points in the Rangers' 10 playoff games. "I know I'm going to play somewhere [next season] -- I still feel I've got many years left if I decide to work at it."