Photo: Rob Carr
During Monday night’s game against the Coyotes, Evgeny Kuznetsov pirouetted across the offensive zone (sound familiar?) and fired a rocket that trickled past Arizona netminder Louis Dominque. It was his 18th goal and 61st point of the year.
Kuznetsov then skated behind the net and twirled in his finger in the air, which has become his trademark celebration during his breakout season. Earlier today I asked him about it.
“That’s not for you, you know,” Kuznetsov said with a smirk. “You don’t have to know that.”
“So it’s a secret?” I replied.
“Yes,” Kuznetsov said.
My best guess is that Kuznetsov is twirling an invisible lasso, a reference to the go-to American phrase Brooks Orpik taught the young Russian last year: “It’s not my first rodeo.”
CSN Mid-Atlantic’s Joe Beninati recognized the reference. “It’s becoming a familiar salute here,” Beninati said. “Evgeny Kuznetsov: Rack it up; put it on the board.”
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