NHL suspends, fines Flyers’ Tortorella for actions vs. officials

Kristen Shilton, ESPN NHL reporterMar 10, 2024, 07:20 PM ET

CloseKristen Shilton is a national NHL reporter for ESPN.

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 to 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 puck drop Saturday. 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 officials changed their minds and called Attard out instead.

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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 assistant coaches 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 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…


Source link : https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/39703231/nhl-suspends-fines-flyers-john-tortorella

Author : Kristen Shilton

Publish date : 2024-03-11 00:44:00

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