When Rangers forward Artem Anisimov dropped to a knee, pointed his stick at the Tampa Bay net and pretended it was a shotgun after scoring his shorthanded goal in the second period of a 3-2 shootout loss to the Lightning on Thursday, he never expected the reaction that followed.
“I am surprised a little bit,” said a contrite Anisimov after yesterday’s practice, speaking to reporters for the first time since the incident. “I just want to say I apologize to Tampa [Bay]. I didn’t mean something by it to them.
“It’s just my celebration and, when I score goals, I want to do something unusual. I apologize to Tampa [Bay].”
Anisimov, who will be in Buffalo with the Rangers for tonight’s game with the Sabres, said he picked up the celebration from his former teammate with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in Russia. He said defenseman Ilya Gorokhov would celebrate each of his goals that way.
“When he scored a goal, he celebrated like this,” Anisimov said. “I watched and I liked it, and I told myself, ‘When I go to the NHL and score a goal, I’ll do the same thing.’ ”
Doing so, however, prompted a strong reaction from the Lightning. Tampa Bay captain Vincent Lecavalier responded by charging after the 23-year-old center. Several of his teammates soon followed, leading to a scuffle between the two teams.
Anisimov received a two-minute unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty, a double minor and a 10-minute misconduct after he wrestled with Tampa Bay forward Steve Downie, who left the bench to chase him down Anisimov in the ensuing fracas.
“It’s been talked about enough, I think,” said Brandon Dubinsky, who fought Tampa Bay’s Marc-Andre Bergeron in the aftermath of the celebration. “He’s not the type of guy that means anything malicious by it. If I was in their position, I’d have been upset, too. We’re ready to move on from it.”
Anisimov, who apologized to his teammates, appreciated the team had his back on the ice.
“One for all, and all for one, you know?” he said.
After finishing his rookie season with 12 goals and 28 points two seasons ago, Anisimov improved to 18 goals and 44 points last year. This year, he’s scored five goals through 25 games, and, with 17 points, is fourth on the team in scoring, and is on pace to surpass last year’s totals.
Rangers coach John Tortorella attributed Anisimov’s improvement to an increased confidence in himself, and hopes Thursday night’s events do nothing to change that.
“It’s a big part of his success this year, that he’s gained confidence in himself,” Tortorella said. “He’s gained confidence in interacting, he’s speaking better. I think he’s level-headed enough to know he made a mistake, he’s spoken on it, and he’s just gonna go back to being himself, and just play.”
Brian Boyle, whose locker is next to Anisimov’s, feels the same way.
“Hopefully he just forgets about the whole thing. Goal celebrations are a fun part of the game. As long as he keeps scoring, we’re gonna be happy.
“He’s had some interesting ones in the past … not really sure what he was trying to accomplish, but we got the goal, so we were happy.”
* Tortorella said defenseman Michael Sauer, who missed Thursday’s game with a concussion, is day-to-day.