NHL suspends, fines Flyers’ Tortorella for actions vs. officials
Philadelphia Flyers coach John Tortorella was suspended two games and fined $50,000 for refusing to leave the bench after receiving a game misconduct and a bench minor in Saturday’s 7-0 loss at the Tampa Bay Lightning, the league announced.
He will miss home games against the San Jose Sharks and Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively.
The Lightning had honored the 20th anniversary of their 2004 Stanley Cup-winning team, which was coached by Tortorella, prior to Saturday’s puck drop. Tortorella didn’t even make it through the first period before being penalized at 10:49, when Philadelphia fell behind 4-0.
Tortorella became irate when Brayden Point scored a power-play goal following a tripping call against Philadelphia defenseman Ronnie Attard. Prior to Point’s goal, Lightning forward Michael Eyssimont was nailed for tripping, but the officials changed their minds and called Attard out instead.
Under a minute later, Flyers forward Garnet Hathaway was assessed a 10-minute misconduct for contact with Lightning center Anthony Cirelli during a timeout for a line change. Shortly thereafter, Point scored the goal that gave Tampa Bay a 4-0 advantage and set off Tortorella.
Philadelphia’s coach expressed his displeasure to referees Wes McCauley and Brandon Schrader over their decision-making and refused to exit the game in a timely fashion. After a few minutes of back-and-forth banter, Tortorella finally retired to the dressing room and was replaced behind the Flyers bench by assistants Brad Shaw and Rocky Thompson.
“I think he was just trying to make a point that we felt like we might not have been getting our fair shake,” Shaw said of Tortorella after the defeat. “It’s an emotional game at times, and we all get elevated blood pressure.
“I’m not going to speculate on whether or not it was the right call. It’s an emotional game, you know, and Wes decided that was the right thing to do. That’s his decision in the moment.”
Flyers players were confused as to why Tortorella was forced out of the game.
“I’ve never seen that,” Philadelphia center Sean Couturier said. “Did he really deserve to get kicked out, honestly, after what he said? He didn’t say much.”
Tortorella will be eligible to return for the Flyers’ game at the Boston Bruins on Saturday.