Artem Anisimov answered questions about the upcoming World Junior Championships, playing with Jaromir Jagr (during pre-season), and his adjustment to North America in this interview posted on the Russian Hockey Federation web site.

- Our first match is tomorrow, against the Finns. What can you say about the opposition?

- I know that Team Finland is always prepared very well technically. However, in the world championship we beat them 5:0. So we will try to repeat that result! (smiles)

The forward, who joined the national team directly in the Czech Republic, has participated in only two practices with the team. Anisimov’s mood is excellent, he jokes and smiles often. He arrived in Czech Republic in excellent condition: in practice he shoots often, and constantly consults with the coaches. And directly prior to coming to Europe, he scored his latest goal for Hartford. Now on Anisimov’s record in the AHL are 17 points in 31 games.

- “The potential of Russian teams is always high. Only gold!” he says, this time in perfect seriousness. “That’s all we aspire to. I have noticed that there are many young guys on this team. But if they made it here, they are worthy. So we’ll play.”

- How are you regarded in the club in Hartford?

- Normally. There is no special treatment towards anybody. You get there and they will give you a chance to make your way up. I haven’t yet made my way up – I still need to train. So I’m not ready. But with the guys I communicate normally.

- Have you already confronted the absence of saunas, for example?

- Organizational matters there are slightly worse, but pretty much the same. There is no sauna. But there are in the Russian area where I go regularly. In addition it is possible to buy food in the Russian shop.

- And why were you not released [earlier] to the national team?

- I don’t know. They told me that it is necessary for me to be there. The coach warned me that before I could go on to the World Championship, I needed to play two matches. On the 22nd I played the last, and the 23rd I was already on location with the national team.

- In Russia rumors that you could return to Yaroslavl Lokomotiv circulate persistently. Is it the truth?

- I have such a clause in my contract — that on January 15th I can return to Yaroslavl. But I have not thought about it yet.

- What was it like to play with Jaromir Jagr?

- Awesome! Just awesome! There are no words. He can play with anyone, he sees the ice very well, and gives very exact passes. It was a pleasure to play with him.

- On the other hand, in the NHL they say that he is very capricious.

- I didn’t notice him to be such. (laughs)

- Your performance in the Super Series against Canada has very much lifted your personal stock. Have you thought about it?

- No, I had no such thoughts. Where there scouts?! The team is a team. It is necessary to win, that’s all.

- You’ve stayed three months in North American hockey already.

- You know, North American hockey is completely different hockey than in Russia. But a Russian is a Russian. Personally I’ve been there three months already and I until now I can not understand their hockey. But life, I can understand.

- Do you like it?

- I like it. I live in Hartford right next to the arena.

- Is it quite a small city?

- How to explain it… Not too small. It has everything. Though if you compare it to New York — New York is the center of the world, you could say. But in general it doesn’t matter to me where I live. It is important where I play.

- And you, not being a native of the capital, are you comfortable in large cities?

- I don’t know. Here in Moscow I am not comfortable. But in New York I never even had the time to get settled.

- And driving? Did you figure it out quickly?

- The driving, yes. I have a navigation system! (laughs)

- What are your impressions of North America? As a whole?

- There are no words. To what I aspired, I still have not yet reached. Everything there amazes me. But I still have a lot of work to do. First of all, to understand North Anerican hockey.

- Your teammate on the national team Victor Tikhonov says they think less on the ice. That it’s more a struggle of power. That strength is necessary, but the mind, in general, is not.

- The surface is smaller. That means you’re hit more. They shoot from all areas. Sharp angle shots, crashing the net. There are few fine passes. If on a 2-on-1, 3-on-2 attach, you can still play. But if the attack is 2-on-2, 3-on-3, shoot it at the net and crash the net. That’s the only way.

- But that style of hockey wins now. The Canadians are World Champions. Do you like it?

- It is simple. There is little time to think about it. Defensemen play very well, they’re difficult to beat.

- You’re currently showing tremendous productivity…

- (Interrupts) Tremendous?!

- For a rookie? Certainly. You’re the fourth in scoring on the team…

- Yes, but more is necessary.

The Wolf Pack blew a 2 goal lead and a chance to move within 1 points of Atlantic Division leading Providence tonight with a 4-3 shootout loss.

I missed most of the first period, but the Bruins got on the board first at 9:17 of the period. With just 1:52 left in the period Parenteau tied it off a goalmouth scramble which resulted off his original shot, which came from a nice feed down low from Anisimov. Pock and Parenteau would take whacks at the rebound before Parenteau put it home. From what I saw the two teams were fairly evenly matched, and finished the period tied in shots with 10 each. Jake Taylor was apparently injured at some point during the 1st period, and didn’t return to the bench for the 2nd. No word on what might be wrong.

The Pack took the lead at 16:38 of the 2nd period on a goal by Greg Moore off a beautiful feed by Bourret, who fought two Bruins for the puck behind the net, won it, and fired it in front of the net for Moore who was poised and ready. Providence goalie (a CHL callup) Andy Franck didn’t stand a chance. The Pack put themselves up by two only 37 seconds later when Jessiman was able to stuff the puck past Franck off a battle in front of the net. With a minute and twelve second to go in the period, Potter made his first stupid play of the night, when after taking a cross-checking penalty (which, admittedly was a weak call) he showed his disapproval with the call by lofting the puck into the stands on the delayed call touch up. He was given a second 2 minute penalty for delay of game, putting the Pack down a man for 4 minutes Fortunately, the Bruins Matt Hendricks would take a high sticking penalty a minute nine second in, to negate most of the Providence power play.

After playing 4-on-4 to start the 3rd the Pack killed off the remainder of Potter’s penalty and the two sides traded chances. But Potter wasn’t finished. After having his stick very visibly held by a Bruins player and not getting a call, Potter complained to referree Terry Koharski. Whatever he said wasn’t well received, because he received both a 2 minute unsportsmanlike conduct call, and a 10 minute misconduct, which essentially ended his night, and left the Pack with the disadvantage of having to finish out the final 10 minutes of the game with only 4 defenseman. It was a task they weren’t up to. Once again the Bruins would negate Potter’s penalty when Matt Lashoff took a high sticking call, but in the final minutes of 4-on-4 play the Pack lost track of their checks, allowing the Bruins to pass the puck back and forth across the crease and beat Montoya, who was playing in his first game back from a back injury that kept him out 2 and a half weeks. Two minutes 30 seconds later Providence would tie it up when Jessiman failed to clear the zone (despite ample opportunity to do so) and instead gave the puck away to a Bruin at his own blue line. Another quick passing play down low and the puck was behind Montoya. Less than a minute later Anisimov would feed Parenteau for a breakaway, but Parenteau’s shot hit the post. Montoya would come up with a big save in the closing minute of the game to keep things tied. The period would end with the Bruins outshooting the Pack by a margin of 20 to 7 in the period, which pretty much tells the story of how the Pack played in the final half of the period.

The two teams traded changes in OT, with Providence getting the better in shots at 5 compared to 4 for the Pack. In the shootout Krejci and Hendricks would score for the Bruins, while the Dawes hit the post, Moore missed the net, and Bourret and Parenteau were stopped. That dropped the Pack’s record in the shootout to 2-2 [edited]. Montoya’s record dropped to 5-4-2 despite making 40 saves on 43 [also edited] shots. For the record, in their past 5 games prior to tonight the Pack had averaged only 29.2 shots against per game. Not exactly a strong show of support to your goalie in his first game back.

Pack Scoring
1. Parenteau (12) (Pock, Anisimov) (PP) 18:08
2. Moore (11) (Bourret) 16.38
2. Jessiman (5) (Byers, Hutchinson) 17:15

Three Stars
1. David Krejci
2. Greg Moore
3. Brett Skinner

With the loss the Pack’s winning streak comes to an end at 5 and Providence extends their lead atop the Atlantic division to 4 points.

The Pack were able to grind out yet another win this afternoon, their third in three days and fifth in a row. The Pack got off to a quick start over the more-rested Pirates when Lauri Korpikoski scored on a beautiful end-to-end rush a little under six minutes into the game. He turned on the jets from around his own blue line, blew by a couple Pirate players and cut in from the right side and put the puck past Pirate goalie Mike McKenna on the backhand. That’s two gorgeous goals by Korpikoski in two games. (Maybe he read by first quarter grades? ) Tommy Pyatt, in his second game back from a sprained ankle, built the Pack’s lead to two at the twelve minute mark on another nice backhander from in close. That was the end for McKenna who was pulled in favor of Gerald Coleman. The Pack would go down two men for 1:12 in the closing minutes of the period, but were able to kill it off and escape with a 2-0 lead despite being outshot 11-9 in the period. Wiikman once again looked good, particularly during the 5-on-3 penalty kill, where he made a number of tough saves.

The Pirates applied good pressure to start the 2nd, and were able to draw within one off a deflection by Mike Hoffman of a hard point shot by Bruno St. Jacques that squeaked between Wiikman’s pads. But Baranka put the Pack back up by two about five and a half minute later on a wraparound, seconds after missing a pass down low on another great opportunity. Baranka would end the night with a goal and an assist, and a +2 in yet another good performance. The Pack closed out the 2nd period still up by 2, despite being outshot 12-6.

Just under four minutes into the third Andrew Hutchinson got caught going the wrong way and took a tripping penalty after chopping down the rushing Portland forward who got by him. On the ensuing power play, the Pirates scored on another point shot through traffic. The Pirates dominated play for the first half of the third and it looked like the Pack’s schedule was catching up to them. But when the Pirates tied it up at 10:26 on a nice 3-on-2 the Pack seemed to wake up and they started playing more aggressively. It paid off with 3:25 left to go in the game when a shot from the high slot by Mike Oullette hit Dane Byers in the thigh and dropped to the ice, where he was able to jump on it and put it home for the 4-3 lead. Parenteau iced the win with 29 seconds left after a nice shot block in the defensive zone by Byers that Korpikoski was able to feather lightly into the Portland zone, where Parenteau was able to pick the pocket of the Pirate defenseman that went back to pick it up. Parenteau had all the time in the world to put it into the empty Portland net. His goal and assist moved Parenteau into the Pack scoring lead, passing Greg Moore by 2 points.

With the win, Wiikman improved his AHL record to 6-0. That puts him ahead of both Holt and Montoya in wins on the season. His .904 save % also tops both Holt and Montoya, though his 2.70 goals against average falls short of both.

One of the impressive things about the win is that it was done without the contribution of the first line, who were held off the scoreboard. In this game, the real story was the third line combo of Korpikoski (1 goal, 1 assist) and Byers (1 goal), supplemented by spare forwards Mike Oullette (2 assists) and Tom Pyatt (1 goal). Pyatt and Oullette were rewarded for the strong play with extra ice time — at the expense of Anisimov and Jessiman, who, unless I missed them, both were glued to the bench though the final half of the 3rd (unless they were injured and I missed it.)

Pack Scoring
1. Korpikoski (5) (Baranka)
1. Pyatt (3) (Oullette)
2. Baranka (3) (Hutchinson, Parenteau)
3. Byers (5) (Oullette, Korpikoski)
3. Parenteau (11) (EN)

Lines
Dawes – Moore – Bourret
Dupont – Anisimov – Parenteau
Byers – Korpikoski – Jessiman
Pyatt – Oullette

Three Stars
1. Byers
2. Korpikoski
3. Wiikman