Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella was back arguing with referees on the ice, and this time he refused to leave the bench when he was ejected.
Tortorella wasted no time getting into it with the striped shirts, specifically Wes McCauley, who tossed him with 9:11 left in the first period after the Flyers coach argued a goal.
Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brayden Point scored a power play goal that came after Ronnie Attard was called for a trip. Tortorella took massive exception to the penalty, which made the Flyers go on the penalty kill with a man down on the ice.
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At this point, though, the Flyers were getting blown out as Point’s goal gave the Lightning a 4-0 lead halfway through the first period. Perhaps Tortorella was trying to get his team fired up with his ejection.
Either way, he certainly got his money’s worth.
McCauley announced Tortorella was hit with a bench minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct and a game misconduct. He, then, motioned Tortorella to get off the bench and head to the locker, but the longtime NHL coach stood his ground.
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The Flyers-Lightning broadcast caught Tortorella arguing with McCauley, and though there’s no audio, you can make out what the former is saying to the other in this situation and it wasn’t nice.
“I’m not!” he can see Tortorella screaming to McCauley. “F— off!”
Finally, after about two minutes of standing off against McCauley, Tortorella yelled one more insult before walking off the bench and into the locker room.
The irony of this ejection is the Lightning honored the 2004 Stanley Cup-champion team, which Tortorella coached. During the standoff, the camera panned to a box with numerous former Lightning players that were seen laughing, as they’ve certainly seen their coach like this in the past.
After the 7-0 loss to the Lightning, Tortorella didn’t speak to the media, but assistant coach Brian Shaw addressed what happened on the ice.
“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.
While everyone can laugh at “Torts,” every game means that much more as the NHL regular season begins to enter the homestretch in the coming weeks. The Flyers own third place in the Metropolitan division with 74 points, which earns them a playoff spot if the season ended today.
But there are many regular-season games left to play and teams like the New York Islanders (70 points), Washington Capitals (69) and New Jersey Devils (66) still have a chance to keep up.
Two teams with the highest point totals in each conference that didn’t get a top three spot in their division will be the wild cards for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
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