Artem Anisimov's Mistake And John Tortorella's Smart Move

And I think Torts did the right thing, not putting Artie in front of the scrum. The kid was probably emotional, confused and also wouldn’t know how to really express himself correctly due to his limited control of the English language. Overall it was stupidity on all Anisimov’s point and I guarantee he doesn’t do it again

I think it’s funny how Ovechkin and his Caps cronies celebrate every goal like it’s a Cup winner, and nobody says crap about it. Way overblown. My only real problem with the whole thing was that it could have been interpreted that he was pointing “the rifle” at the goaltender.

Lightning got revenge in the best way possible, they won the game.

If Dubinsky and Boyle ever score a goal again they are liable to do the “Ickey Shuffle”

I think he was just over excited. Let them brawl it out and shit. Instead we ended up on the ass end of a powerplay situation. stamkos is whining because he’s playing like crap against us and if I was a ranger I would of yanked him away from the pile and beat his ass down fair and square after pulling that cheap shot. Anisimov didn’t lift a finger to fight so he must of known immediately what he did. Basically he got excited, said “oh shit whoops!” And then bam jumped by there team. I understand if I was a lightning player I would jump in but the NHL giving anisimov anything other then an unsportsmanlike is BS. There blowing what he did way out of proportion. Stupid NHL. If your not discussing Crosby or letting the penguins win a game they will make you pay.

i don’t think tampa would have have reacted the same way if the "stick/gun" was aimed at the boards or glass or something. but since it was directed in the direction of the opposing players/goal, it was taken personally, and also in my opinion brought the celebration a bit over the top.
but at the same time, like someone else posted, why are we subject to watching ovechkin put his stick down on the ice and warm his hands like "it’s too hot to hold" that could be taken personally too as if he’s saying, i’m so good, i can score, and you can’t. yet players like him don’t get unsportsmanlike penalties.
i’m in agreement with most on this site, there’s goal celebrations, and there’s over the top goal celebrations. i don’t mind a knee slide, fist pump, a jump into the glass. but the gun aiming/swordslinging/over the top ovie celebrations are the ones that annoy me, and cheapen hockey for me.
as coach orion said in mighty ducks 2 — "act like you’ve scored before!"

How were Downie and Stamkos permitted to play the rest of the game?

I think celebrations are fine but that was a little excessive and could have easily been misinterpreted. I get the whole “sniper” thing but that was a tap-in. Two minute penalty for unsportsmanlike was well-deserved as was the response from Tampa Bay.

There are, however, some things that are funny…even ironic…that:
a) We have to apologize for it. I rarely, if ever, see another team apologize when one of their guys seriously injures a guy with a hit from behind or head shot. Wouldn’t it make more sense to apologize then?
b) Tortorella and Richards have to apologize for a grown man. Artie might not have a good grasp of the language but he should be able to say sorry (not that I think he has too)
c) there still is a lingering Tortorella/Richards Lighting boner. If this was any other team, would it have been that big a deal?
d) Gilroy is still playing!

I made Anisimov’s rifle celebration look like child’s play

Would Stammer and Vinny like some cheese with that whine? Apparently you’re not allowed to celebrate after you score a goal or have fun anymore.

Maybe with the HBO camers around all day around the team made AA hyped up? Anyway, it was a miskate from a player that has a clean rep and he will not repeat that action again. Futhermore, that fag bettman and the NHL better suspend that dirtbag Downie for 10 games for coming off the bench. That dude has a rep and he indeed break the rule for leaving the bench during a brawl. See last year game between the Islanders and Pen’s when Godard left the bench to help out his goaltender against Haley, he got 10 games…and why was Downie still allowed to play? Don’t the refs have the opportunity to look over between periods or receive a call down from Toronto?

AA was a bit impulsive and did something dumb. Downie was a bit impulsive and did something dumb (people say Downie is dirty. Downie was dirty in AHL. He is no longer. But he’s still fiery and impulsive and prone to this kind of stuff). Vinny did what a captain is supposed to do. All of those things happen in hockey.

I really like the way Torts handled it. Although I’m not totally convinced it was the spark for the Bolts. Tampa had outplayed the Rangers pretty badly for most of the second period prior to that, so there really wasn’t any spark needed. Although one could argue that it helped the team focus after giving one up. Trust me when I say that’s been a big problem of late.

Not sure what Stammer was looking at. Probably got crossed up in the heat of the moment and needs to go back and actually look at what happened (and what often happens).

another great quote missed by stamkos " He’ll know it’s in the back of our minds the next time we see him. "

Okay tough guy you mean youll throw a punch again when hes not looking !!

Stammer is recalling the Bow and Arrow motion Arty did last year after he scored one, the difference was he was pointing down the ice at the end boards. In any case I dont have a problem with the celebration as long as he turns it around and doesn’t point it at their net. Even though I still thought it was awesome that it stirred the pot, I love seeing things boil over in a hockey game and that was definitely enjoyable. Too bad we lost at the end….

Just a thought….. It seems that since Rupp and Deveaux have been gone I am seeing other teams taking liberties- ie running our players and specifically our defensemen a lot more. Hits, both clean and dirt on Sauer, Del Zotto, the slew foot on Prust last night, Stamkos’ pussy-shot on AA.
I realize some on this site were willing to burn Deveaux at the stake for his elbow but bottom line we need someone to protect our players. Prust just isnt big and strong enough to do it by himself.

I think this entire situation is overblown, and I feel that every time we play the lightning I lose respect for Stamkos.

All of the people saying this is overblown: What if Anisimov skated across to the Lightning goalie and did the same thing in front of him? What if Anisimov skated in front of the Lightning bench and did the same thing down the line of players? What if Dominic Moore had done the same things after his tying SH goal? Would that be ok?

im reading comments and like over 100 people are begging for this celebration to be in NHL 13 lol

anisimov is not classless but the celebration pointing the stick/gun at garon/the net was a classless act

i don’t want to hear he’s 23, excited, etc…..you don’t go crazy over a goal scored unless it’s something meaningful or of major significance (i.e. fleury’s skate/slide tumble celebration to force game 7 vs. edmonton, selanne’s gun/shoot of his glove after breaking bossy’s rookie goal record)

saying “but ovechkin does it” doesn’t excuse that kind of thing, you’re excusing a stupid move by pointing out another stupid move

the great goal/move should be the highlight, not the stupid celebration afterward

i know for a fact that if stamkos had scored the go-ahead goal last night to put tampa up 2-1 and done that same move pointing at hank this board would have had a nuclear meltdown with posters wanting stamkos killed by rupp

to me the anisimov thing is more symbolic of a shift in the way fans accept behaviors now more than anything

it really surprises me honestly

Hi guys.

About Artem Anisimov’s celebration:

I for one think it was more than a little bit inappropriate. I also think that the retaliation to it was more than a little bit inappropriate. Anisimov is a young, enthusiastic player who is not known for anything like this. I have seen him celebrate a goal before by doing the "archer" pose (pretending to notch an arrow and fire it, while the stick is the bow) but never anything like what we saw today. I don’t take too much issue with Vinny going over to start the scrum because he is a proud player and I would probably do the same thing if I were in his skates. The scrum in and of itself is fine, I take issue with Downie joining it and making things uglier than they had to be.

I thought Downie coming off of the bench was a very dumb, dangerous thing to do. Though I think it is hazy as to whether or not you could consider Connolly still on the ice. That being said Downie was sitting on the boards near the bench and had no business skating over to the scrum. It was inappropriate.

I think Anisimov should get a fine and I think Downie should get the same. I don’t know Downie’s track record with suspensions and things of that nature so I don’t know if it is appropriate for him to get games off. It was a stupid, unfortunate thing to happen. I am sure Anisimov’s goal came from the joy of scoring a short-handed goal off of a very pretty play… that being said the celebration was more than a little bit over the top. I didn’t find it as offensive as Ovechkin’s "my stick is too hot" celebration but I can see how it looked like Anisimov was shooting at the goaltender with his "gun" and not the net. I am sure it will be something he won’t be doing again anytime soon.

He really should have just done a Selanne and thrown one of his gloves into the air to shoot out of the sky. Would have saved everyone a headache.

They agreed with me almost across the board and thought what Downie did was worthy of suspension.

Those are my two cents on it. I think the Lightning players on the ice (and one guy who was on the bench) overreacted and deserved to walk away from the scrum shorthanded (which is not what happened). I think Torts is handling it well, and I think Arty is handling it well.

If nothing else this whole “incident” is giving us the excuse to use the word “fracas”… you can’t go wrong with a word like that.

Guys for some reason new comments aren’t showing up golden anymore.

Any help on that?