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Rangers Lisin and Anisimov chat after win vs. Capitals
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Artem Anisimov (AP Photo/Jerry S. Mendoza)
The Washington Capitals are getting ready for the next game against the Detroit Red Wings, trying to sort out their problems against the Stanley Cup finalist.
In the meantime, I want to introduce you to some of the Capitals' main opponents this season in the Eastern Conference. After last night's loss to the New York Rangers (you can read my review here), I spoke with two of the youngest soon-to-be Rangers' stars Enver Lisin and Artem Anisimov. Both players didn't get a lot of ice time last night, but did take advantage of what was given to them, creating the Rangers' second goal for Ales Kotalik. Kotalik himself told me after the game: "These are the best Russians on our team!" Well, they are the only ones on the Rangers. True, Evgeni Grachev was also in the building, called up due to fears of Ryan Callahan's injury. But Grachev spent the entire game in the press box next to Sean Avery. Here's behind the scenes -- and behind the stats -- look at the players in an interview.
Despite spending very little time on the ice, your checking line still created quite a buzz and even created a goal for Kotalik.
LISIN: It just so happened that we had a lot of penalties. The coach does trust us, but we don’t really play on special teams. We don’t play a lot, but we don’t get upset over it. Our line even scored a goal tonight!
ANISIMOV: I played on power play a little bit in pre-season games. Not anymore though. Sometimes in practice Enver and I switch places on power play units. But we haven’t had a chance to be on the ice on power play in the regular season yet. Actually, just once. It was against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
LISIN: It was pretty tough to play against the Penguins. They had a show before the game, and then their team just started pushing real hard! It was also tough for us, because we have a lot of new guys, young guys. I was actually very nervous.
What was it like to play against the Washington Capitals? A lot of analysts believe that they may be the team to beat in the Eastern Conference.
LISIN: Tonight we were just a little bit more confident than we were a couple of weeks ago when we played the Capitals in pre-season. It’s important for us, because we haven’t yet played 100 games in the NHL…
ANISIMOV: [Laughing] 100 games? Yeah, right…
LISIN: It’s just people say that when you have played 100 games in the NHL, only then can you be considered to have NHL experience. So, every game is important for us because we get that invaluable experience. The speed of the game is so different. We played our fourth game of the season tonight, and we feel absolutely cool. The first couple of games was like catching a small fire for us.
ANISIMOV: Getting that experience is great. With each game we gain more and more. We will just keep working at practices. And it doesn’t matter how much time we get to play in any given game, we will do our best.
Surely before the game you were told about the Capitals and their explosive start to the season with Alex Ovechkin scoring 9 points in 3 games, Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Semin also firing up on all cylinders. What was your game plan to stop the Capitals’ first line?
ANISIMOV: Out coach always tells us to treat every game as if it’s your last. We don’t let ourselves believe that our team is in any way weaker than our opponent.
LISIN: We play like we’re No. 1. We play like we’re the better team. We’re more aggressive. We always believe we will score. Tonight we had a difficult moment in the game, just like we had one against the New Jersey Devils, in the first period. But we pulled ourselves together. It’s such a pleasure to play with all the guys on our team. Everyone is looking ahead. No one puts their head down. Everyone cheers on each other. We worked really hard tonight and made Washington make mistakes.
ANISIMOV: We worked a lot on our forecheck this training camp.
How many games do you expect to play this season in the NHL? Maybe even play on the top two lines?
ANISIMOV: All of them. How many are there? 82? And yes, the playoffs too. I don’t want to miss even one game. There is always a chance to move up. You just have to work hard every day and try to learn something new every day.
LISIN: It’s the first year with this coach for me. I have to work really hard to earn his trust. Your line doesn’t just click right away. You have to work on it. After this, I believe, everything will come as long as you work honestly and selflessly for your team – goals, power plays, top lines, ice time. It doesn’t happen very quickly though. Of course, it happens quickly for some. But we’re happy we’re given a chance to play and to show what we’ve got. We just need time and patience.
Tell me honestly, did you poke fun a little bit at Henrik Lundqvist for the goal from Backstrom?
ANISIMOV: No way! He saved us so many time tonight.
LISIN: Why would we make fun of him? He is our number one goalie. Tonight before the game I simply touched his iPod and the team almost kicked my butt. He has this special music he listens to before every game. He has these songs in a very particular order. And I just skipped five songs and his order of songs was a mess. Everyone didn’t understand what was happening. And when Henrik let in his first goal I thought to myself ‘Darn! What did I do?’
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