Dec 7, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins center Morgan Geekie (39) and Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Emil Andrae (36) look for a loose puck during the first period at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-Imagn Images
Whenever John Tortorella opens a press availability with, "Let me start," you know it's going to be must-see viewing.
Following the Flyers 4-3 overtime loss to Boston on Saturday, their second straight loss coming in their league-leading 11th game this season that went past regulation, Tortorella emerged to speak to the media, and before he was even in position in front of the cameras you knew it was time to grab the extra buttery popcorn.
— Flyers Nation (@FlyersNation) December 7, 2024
The Flyers weren't perfect on Saturday. They let another lead slip away. That's two in a row for sure, and when that happens, it can stick under a coach's saddle a little bit.
It happens more so with Torts, who is fiery to begin with, because he coaches his teams to compete like the devil from start to finish in every game. And much like last season, around this time, these Flyers really should have no business being this tough to play against night in and night out - and yet they are.
In many ways, what they're doing this season is far more impressive than last season.
Last season they were winning with a true No.1 goalie and a very good backup. The Flyers have been playing the past month with two goalies who have been thrown to the fire in the NHL after mostly coming in fresh from the KHL.
They're doing it while trying to have a teenage talent blossom into a star. They're doing it with an oft-injured defensive corps. They're doing it without several forwards producing up to the level they need to produce.
In many ways, what Tortorella is doing behind the bench coaching this group is more impressive than what he did last season for the first 70-odd games, before the bubble burst when he tried to make an example of his captain, Sean Couturier, and the team went into an abject tailspin and missed the playoffs on the final day of the season.
But you don't coach as many games as Torts has in this league and with the success he has without sometimes pushing the wrong buttons as a coach. It happens. No one is perfect. But another reason for success is the commitment to beliefs in how to do the job, and damn it, Tortorella is never going to change the way he is.
So, when there's a game when the officials are bad, he'll tell you. When there's a game where his own players are bad, he'll tell you. When there's a game where he doesn't like the tactics of the opposition, he'll tell you.
And then there are games, like Saturday, where there were all three - so you knew damn well he was going to tell you.
And he knew it too, which is why he wanted to start - to be certain that what needed to be said was going to be said in case the gathered reporters didn't ask the right questions.
"Let me start," he said as he was still walking into position for the post game availability. "One thing I teach my team to do is not dive, Maybe I should start teaching them that. The way this has gone here. The way shit goes on. Maybe I should start teaching them how to dive."
Torts had both six shooters out of their holsters and came out firing.
Was he mad at the refs for making the calls? Yes. A couple were ticky-tack and one specifically on Garnet Hathaway was terrible.
Boston gets an extremely late whistle on this call...
John Tortorella is in DISBELIEF. #Flyers pic.twitter.com/NT4kTSFv91
But he was also calling out the Bruins players for their embellishment. And maybe he was even firing a shot at new Boston coach (and former Flyer) Joe Sacco, who wasn't a very good head coach record-wise more than a decade ago in Colorado and has been just an assistant for the past decade, before replacing Jim Montgomery last month.
Wherever his bullets landed, they landed, and he wasn't worried who was in the line of fire. Torts continued:
"I thought we played our ass off," he said. "I thought we played really well. I'm not going to go too dep into it but it's one of the things we talk about as a team. We have to play an honest game. There's no cheating. There's no embarrassing the referees. You don't embarrass the referees. The shit that went on here tonight is just ridiculous. I'm proud of the way our team played. Did we piss another one away? Yeah. But other people had a little bit to do with that, also."
Cheating. Embarrassing the referees. The shit is ridiculous.
That sounds more like it's aimed at the Bruins than the officials. Woah, boy.
And it makes sense that Torts wanted to go scorched earth on something that wasn't related to the Flyers play themselves. After all he recognizes that his team has again been going well for a while now, continuing to play well over their heads.
They are 8-3-3 in their last 14 games - all without goalie Sam Ersson. And while they only got one of a possible four points in a pair of games against good hockey teams in Florida and Boston, Torts recognizes that his team was thisclose to coming away from those two games with all four.
And so, he doesn't want to take anything away from the way they are playing. He knows he needs to keep their confidence high. He saw what happened a season ago when he did something that impacted their confidence. He admits that even at this point in his career, there are things he learns about his team and how to adapt the way he coaches them.
He's said it about individual players. You've heard him talk about the way he coaches Morgan Frost. And Joel Farabee. And even how he handles Matvei Michkov and Travis Konecny, his two best offensive players.
Michkov has flourished under Torts, so far - and that includes a two-game benching earlier this season.
Michkov scored a pair of goals in the first period against Boston Saturday.
WHO LET MATVEI GET HOT? #Flyers pic.twitter.com/3LpqEt99cf
By doing so, Michkov joined Eric Lindros as the only teenagers in Flyers history to have multiple multi-goal games.
He also became just the third Flyers teenager to have three consecutive multipoint games joining Lindros and Peter Zezel (who did it twice). Michkov turns 20 on Monday.
TEAM CANADA TRAVIS SANHEIM FINDS MATVEI MICHKOV!!!
TWO GOALS!!! #FLYERS pic.twitter.com/lRN719HLPP
And then there's Konecny...
The Flyers leading scorer, and a Team Canada selection for the upcoming Four Nations tournament, Konecny was briefly removed from the game by the NHL's spotter to be checked for a concussion after sustaining a big hit in the third period.
Konecny went down the tunnel and re-emerged on the bench after being cleared. But he didn't see the ice again, not even in the 3-on-3 overtime, a situation in which he excels.
Torts had some words for him as well.
"I stopped playing him," Torts said. "He's undisciplined. He's just too undisciplined."
Some will argue that this decision could have cost the Flyers a point. After all it was Joel Farabee, seeing more ice time than usual in the extra session, who couldn't score the game-winner on a breakaway, moments before Boston got the winning goal themselves.
Joel Farabee had the game on his stick and couldn't finish. #Flyers pic.twitter.com/wlqdmjxFFu
But Torts is going to be Torts. He's going to hold guys accountable when he deems it appropriate. Not when you deem it. Not when I deem it. When he deems it - and that's never going to change.
Will that be a right button pushed by the coach or a wrong one? Time will ultimately tell. You can't say the Flyers lost because he benched Konecny, because that would be hyperbolic. But it is fair to say that not playing Konecny had a limiting effect on their chance to win the game in the extra session.
But this is what you get with Torts. And the Flyers are mostly playing beyond their expectations again, so it's hard to argue it in the moment.
And frankly, the popcorn sessions are always a treat, so consider that a win, regardless of whether you agree with his methods or not.
