The National Hockey League has decided to suspend Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella for two games after he refused to leave the bench after being initially ejected with a game misconduct by referee Wes McCauley.
In Saturday’s disastrous 7-0 defeat to the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Flyers fell to an early 4-0 hole at the 10:49 mark of the first period. The Lightning had scored two power play goals on some ticky-tack calls, primarily the most recent one where Mikey Eyssimont tried slicing through both Ronnie Attard and Marc Staal to avoid an icing and fell but Attard was called for a minor.
Tortorella was furious and was seen barking at the referee as Felix Sandström was entering the game in relief for Samuel Ersson. McCauley called the bench boss for a two-minute minor for unsportsmanlike conduct and then ejected him for the rest of the game – something that you don’t generally see in the NHL.
On top of the fact that he got a 2-game suspension, the league has also decided to fine him $50,000 – something that Flyers Governor Dan Hilferty said he would pay out of his own pocket for.
Both Brad Shaw and Rocky Thompson assumed control behind the bench last night, the former taking over the defense and the latter dealing with the forwards. Shaw took Tortorella’s place for postgame interviews as well. It’s safe to assume they will both be in the same position on Tuesday night against the San Jose Sharks and on Thursday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The NHL took matters into their own hands with this ruling and seemingly issued a warning to other head coaches around the league that if you don’t like our calls and you continue to bark from the bench, there’s a good chance you’re going to get ejected, suspended, and fined.
With zero precedence, it’s a rather egregious ruling but if there is a silver lining to this incident, it’s that the blowback has shown that the hockey world is finally on the same page about something.
