The Flyers Didn't Appreciate Mike Rupp's Salute
Yeah, so remember that post from last week in which we celebrated Jaromir Jagr saluting fat and crying Penguins fans? Well, what’s that saying? What goes around… comes around to bite Jagr in the ass in front of 46,000 fans?
Or something like that.
Mike Rupp performed his own version of Jagr’s salute – which had him trending worldwide on Twitter – after he scored his first of two goals. Braydon Coburn wasn’t a fan. Former Flyers beat writer Chuck Gormley provides the quotes from Coburn:
"He's probably got the same amount of goals as Jags, right?" Flyers defenseman Braydon Coburn said after seeing Rupp score his second and third goals of the season in New York's 3-2 win.
"So he can do a salute? I don't care. It is what it is. He got the last laugh because he got two goals."
"I don't know if (the salute) is something that was premeditated on his part or what," Coburn said. "They won the game and he got two goals, so what can you say? We've got a rivalry brewing with these guys. There's some bad blood now."
Oh, it just now got some bad blood? OK, don't tell HBO.
Scott Hartnell also had a problem with Rupp's celebration. More from Gormley’s article on CSNWashington.com:
Flyers winger Scott Hartnell didn't appreciate the gesture and before the start of the third period the two had words at center ice. According to NBC television analyst Darren Pang, Hartnell told Rupp to "show some respect. Jaromir Jagr is a Hall of Famer."
Yeah, but what did Jagr, who left the game in the second period with a calf strain (officially a lower-body injury, according to Paul Holmgren), think?
He said he didn’t care, but then passively dropped this gem:
“Maybe he’s celebrating like that, I don’t know, he doesn’t score many goals, so…”
Heh.
After the game, Rupp wrote on his blog on NHL.com:
People were asking me about the salute I gave after scoring. You may not believe this, but it was just a moment of excitement. I was really just excited to contribute offensively and hopefully at that time get us back in the game. I'm just glad we were able to get back in the game.
We don’t really believe it, and thoroughly preferred Brayden Schenn’s boyish jubilance over his first NHL goal… but now our grapes are just sour.
Why do I get the feeling these two teams will play in the Eastern Conference Finals?
Video of Jagr post-game is after the jump.