Philadelphia Flyers forward Ryan Poehling was completely stunned by a hit that was deemed legal Thursday night, and his head coach John Tortorella was in no mood to laugh.
Midway through the first period, the American tried to cut towards the New York Islanders net with the puck, but he was awaited by Maxim Tsyplakov. The rookie right winger hit it pretty high and Poehling made a spectacular fall.
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He also needed several minutes to leave the ice, which gave the officials time to review the action. No penalty was awarded to Tsyplakov, with the restart suggesting Poehling’s shoulder was the first point of contact.
A sequence to see in the main video.
It didn’t take much for Tortorella to shout down the referees who came to explain the decision to him. We can easily see the frustration of the fiery coach by reading his lips.
-“I understand why John might be upset that his player was injured, but at the same time, I agree with the decision made on the ice,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said after the game. I saw the same thing as the officials.”
Nothing to calm “Torts”, Bo Horvat then opened the scoring for the Islanders during a power play. The Flyers finally won 5 to 3 thanks to three assists from Travis Konecny.
“It’s good [que ses joueurs s’en soient pris à Tsyplakov]launched Tortorella. I told them to play for Poehling. I thought this situation gave us a chance to galvanize the troops. […] We did some stupid stuff tonight sometimes, but it’s a good group.”
According to The Athletic reporter Arthur Staple, the National League’s player safety department will have a hearing with Tsyplakov and could impose a sanction on him.
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