When Rangers forward Artem Anisimov pulled an imaginary trigger while dropping to one knee in a sniper’s pose in the right circle, his stick aimed like a rifle at the Lightning net after scoring a second-period goal at the Garden last night, he triggered a series of events that concluded with coach John Tortorella launching an impassioned defense of the 23-year-old Russian even while calling his display “wrong.”
Anisimov was charged at first by Tampa Bay captain Vincent Lecavalier, then by a handful of Lightning players defending their colors and their pride in what became a 3-2 shootout victory for the visitors.
The Rangers led 2-1 until Dominic Moore tied the match on a shorthanded goal of his own with 1:57 to play in regulation before getting the only score in the skills competition.
“It was the wrong thing to do, we all know that, but he’s a solid, solid guy who made a mistake,” said Tortorella, who did not permit Anisimov to speak to the press following the match. “I want to protect him; I still don’t think he really understands.
“I don’t blame Tampa (Bay) at all for the way they reacted. I would hope our team would do the same thing. Artie knows it was wrong. He feels awful about it. He apologized to the team right away.
“I don’t want this to be a bigger deal than it is,” said Tortorella, who will have Anisimov available to the media following today’s practice. “He’s a good kid; he’s not an idiot, and there are some idiots in our league.
“Our leadership group will take over and help him through this.”
Anisimov, who was given a two-minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for excessive celebration plus a double minor and a 10-minute misconduct for wrestling with Steve Downie — who came off the bench to get involved in the fracas — has been expressive before in celebrating goals, even though those types of displays are contrary to what Tortorella preaches.
Before Tortorella spoke, Sean Avery told The Post that it would be wrong for anyone who hasn’t played in the NHL to judge Anisimov.
“Unless you have played a game in the NHL, nobody should have an opinion on what Artie did,” Avery said. “It’s not for anyone else to say what ‘the code’ is or isn’t.
“We’ll deal with that in here as a club. That’s not why we lost the game.”
The Rangers ultimately lost the game because they could not put away the Lightning after a strong opening 20 minutes and could not convert several glorious opportunities in overtime against Mathieu Garon after being outshot 23-11 over the second and third periods.
“We got sloppy,” said Brad Richards. “We maybe could have buried one or two more in the first on our power plays to take the life out of them but we didn’t and they were able to hang around, which always becomes a dangerous situation.”
Ryan Callahan did score a first-period power-play goal, but the Rangers failed on two other man-advantages in the opening period and then three more in the third to allow Moore to be in position to tie the game.
Still, lost opportunities and the lost second point didn’t dominate the post-game talk. It was the display by Anisimov — who got seven shifts without incident after being released from the box — that did.
“I don’t think Artie was doing it against their team, but obviously Vinny is going to think that without knowing Artie,” Richards said. “Artie wasn’t trying to embarrass anybody, he was celebrating a nice goal.
“Artie won’t do that again. We’ll all move on from that.”