December 9, 2011, Tampa Bay Lightning-New York Rangers game story for Metro Newspaper in NYC
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CHRIS TROTMAN/GETTY IMAGES
Artem Anisimov sparked a brawl with this mock shooting celebration.
Artem Anisimov may have given birth to a heated rivalry with one ill-advised act of celebration.
Anisimov’s gun-firing goal celebration at 13:23 of the second period sparked a melee that led to a combined 36 penalty minutes and a possible suspension for Steve Downie.
“It was the wrong thing to do,” John Tortorella said of Anisimov’s celebration after the Rangers lost the mostly soporific match, 3-2, in a shootout. Former Ranger Dominic Moore scored the lone goal in the one-on-one. The Rangers have lost two in a row.
“I still don’t think he really understands what he was doing there,” Tortorella added. “He’s a good kid. He’s not an idiot. There are some idiots in our league and he is not an idiot.”
When asked by Metro if Anisimov had crossed the line, the coach offered an unequivocal “Yup.”
Tortorella told reporters that he made the decision to not make Anisimov available to the media. Anisimov will be available to reporters at today’s practice in Greenburgh.
Anisimov dropped to his knee and mock-fired his stick towards Mathieu Garon after tapping a Michael Del Zotto goal mouth feed past the Lightning goaltender while the Rangers were short-handed. Immediately Vincent Lecavalier took exception and both teams paired off.
During the scrum, Downie left the Lightning bench. He skated over to Anisimov and threw jabs at the Rangers center. Incredibly, referees Chris Rooney and David Banfield did not assess fighting majors or eject Downie.
“They told me they didn’t see him come off the bench,” Tortorella said.
Rule 70.1 states that “No player may leave the players’ or penalty bench at any time during an altercation or for the purpose of starting an altercation.”
Dubinsky was given a four-minute minor for roughing, as was Anisimov, who also was given a 10-minute misconduct. Bergeron penalized four minutes for roughing. Steven Stamkos was assessed a two-minute minor for roughing and Downie was given a 10-minute misconduct.
Tampa Bay played in the first period with all of the intelligence and maturity befitting a team that entered the evening ranked 13th in the East and had lost five in a row. The Lightning committed three straight penalties in the first.
When the period ended, despite having been credited with 13 shots on goal — they had 11 blocked and missed on two others — the Rangers only led 1-0. Ryan Callahan recorded the lone marker, a power play strike at 7:49. The goal was the captain’s 11th of the season. Brad Richards lugged the puck through the neutral zone, weaving through Tampa Bay’s 13th ranked PK, before handing off to Callahan at the half boards. Callahan skated to the left faceoff dot and whipped a bullet over Garon to open the scoring.
“We, maybe, could have buried one or two more in the first on those power plays and take the life out of them,” said Richards.
But the momentum did not carry over into the second.
Tampa forced the Rangers to chase the puck in the period which led to three consecutive power plays. The Lightning outshot the Rangers 14-6 in the second and drew even when Ryan Malone scored an unassisted goal at 11:23. Ryan McDonagh threw a no-look, backhand pass at the half boards to the middle of the ice, where Malone was waiting. Malone took a couple strides and ripped his sixth goal of the year past Henrik Lundqvist.
“I thought it was a little bit of a strange period, penalties-wise,” said Callahan. “There [were] a lot of penalties and when we’re doing that, it’s hard to keep momentum and sustain pressure.”
Moore tied the game, 2-2, with a short-handed goal over Lundqvist glove hand at 18:03 of the third. The Rangers dominated the overtime, outshooting Tampa 6-1, but could not solve Garon.
Follow NHL beat writer Denis Gorman on Twitter @DenisGorman for news on all three area teams.
http://www.metro.us/newyork/sports/article/1046032--rangers-fall-to-lightning-in-shootout
posted by Denis P. Gorman at 12:34 AM
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