NHL Video: Anisimov's Sniping Celebration—Excessive or Did Tampa Overreact?

During Thursday's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Artem Anisimov finished off a picture perfect tic-tac-toe goal. However what followed can be described as quality footage for HBO'S 24/7.

After scoring this important shorthanded goal and giving the Rangers a 2-1 lead, Anisimov dropped to one knee and pumped his stick like a rifle and fired. It was interpreted that Anisimov was intentionally aiming at Mathieu Garon rather than as an exhuberant goal celebration.

Shortly after this, Lightning captain Vinny Lecavalier skated over to Anisimov and a scrum ensued.

Players on both sides started to tussle. However, things became exasperated when forward Steve Downie skated away from the bench and joined the action. He then went after Anisimov and a few scuffles ensued, including Brandon Dubinsky and Steven Stamkos amongst others.

This celebration set Twitter on fire as Anisimov started trending worldwide. The celebration drew some resemblance to Teemu Selanne's machine gun celebration. However, in this case the Lightning took offense.

Stamkos commented on the situation saying,

"

It's just classless, I think I've seen him do that once or twice before, so no surprise there. We got the win. He'll know it's in the back of our minds the next time we see him. But we're not going to break focus because of that. We wanted to win the game and we did. 

"

Stamkos in this instance is a bit hypocritical, considering he threw a sucker punch at Anisimov during the scrum. To say Anisimov has done this once or twice before is also a fabrication as Anisimov is a very shy and meek player.

Regardless, I do admit that Anisimov took the wrong course of action. He fired up a Tampa Bay team that was on a losing streak.

The question I pose here is this: Do you think Anisimov's celebration was excessive and uncalled for, or was it just a young player who got caught up in the moment? Did Tampa overreact considering players like Alex Ovechkin are known for their celebrations and have not been targeted like Anisimov was?

Downie should be expecting a call from Brendan Shanahan as he is eligible for an automatic suspension for leaving the bench to join a fight.

Rule 70.1 reads

"

70.1 Leaving the Bench - No player or goalkeeper may leave the players’ or penalty bench at any time during an altercation or for the purpose of starting an altercation. Substitutions made prior to the altercation shall be permitted provided the players so substituting do not enter the altercation.

"

Downie had no place leaving the bench and should receive an eight-game suspension that would model an earlier suspension handed out during the preseason to Jean-Francois Jacques.

Artem Anisimov is a young player who will learn his lesson. He doesn't have a history of excessive celebrations. Tampa Bay felt they were being showed up but they didn't need to turn it into a brawl. The Rangers went on to lose the game 3-2 in a shootout.

Hopefully the Rangers can put this all behind them when they face the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.

Tom Urtz, Jr. is an NHL featured columnist. For NHL news, updates and alerts about players: