John Tortorella snaps at referee Wes McCauley on Saturday.
Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella was having none of Wes McCauley on Saturda ynight.
National Hockey League referee Wes McCauley is no stranger to controversy, but on Saturday night McCauley may have poked the wrong bear.
McCauley's officiating unfortunately became a focus of Saturday night's game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Philadelphia Flyers when, early in the first period, McCauley sent a message to both teams by handing out a 10 minute misconduct to Flyers forward Garnet Hathaway.
Tortorella likely wasn't very happy about a call that early in the game, one that would result in Hathaway taking a 10 minute break in the locker room, but things would really explode a few minutes later after the Lightning would take a commanding 4-0 lead.
A questionable penalty call would result in Tortorella getting into it with the officials and McCauley quickly made the decision to send Tortorella back to the locker room. Rather than diffuse the situation however, this resulted in an extended staredown between referee and coach, with Tortorella refusing to leave the bench.
Tortorella will almost certainly be facing some measure of discipline for his actions here tonight, but he is hardly the only man that has had issues with NHL referee Wes McCauley.
